HUSKY
CT excels at getting Medicaid-eligible families enrolled
A new study finds that 96.3% of CT children eligible for HUSKY participated in the program in 2016; we are tied for seventh among states. The US average is 93.7% for all states; 94.9% for states, like CT, that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Even better, CT ranks fourth among states in enrolling…
Read MoreLidocaine patch leads CT Medicaid drug spending
According to the latest data visualization from 46brooklyn, CT’s Medicaid program is spending a lot on lidocaine patches. Lidocaine is a local anesthetic that relieves nerve pain. Over the last three available quarters (Q3,4 2017 and Q1 2018), Lidocaine patches have topped CT Medicaid’s list of 25 most costly medications. This medication isn’t on the…
Read MoreCTNJ: Capitation vs. fee for service: Which team are you on?
is a sharp divide within Connecticut’s healthcare community over how to pay for care that’s as fervent as the Yankees vs. Red Sox split. Some believe that capitation is the holy grail, but others believe that fee for service isn’t the problem and isn’t broken. Read more
Read MoreNew site compares Medicaid drug prices across states and overall drug price trends
There is a lot of drug pricing data available publicly but it is hard to synthesize. 46brooklyn has solved this problem by merging that data and putting it into understandable graphs and maps. The Medicaid drug pricing heat map is fascinating. Using CMS data to compare what state Medicaid programs are spending on prescriptions with…
Read MoreState individual mandate law would lower uninsured by 88,000 and premiums by 10%
A new analysis by the Commonwealth Fund estimates the impact if states passed their own individual mandate laws, similar to Massachusetts’ law that predated the ACA. According to researchers, by 2020 CT could expect our uninsured rate to drop by 34% with 88,000 more state residents having coverage. Most would gain coverage through Medicaid/CHIP (33,000)…
Read MoreMedicaid update: hints of new data and promises of more, call center wait times still long, but behavioral health progress
There was good and bad news at Friday’s Medicaid council meeting. Call center wait times are down to 85 minutes but more callers are giving up. There are signs of hope in fixing the new transportation problem and DSS has imposed sanctions (maybe a connection there), but concerns remain. But in good news, we heard…
Read More31 ways to save on healthcare in Connecticut’s budget
Connecticut’s state budget is facing future deficits and health spending is a large share of the budget. The state now spends $3.8 billion between Medicaid and the state employee health plan to cover about a million state residents. Health care spending outside the state budget is also growing. Connecticut has the sixth highest per capita…
Read MoreMedicaid update: Quality was rising through 2016, raising concerns about PCMH+
Friday’s MAPOC meeting focused on Medicaid quality and access information from CHNCT, DSS’s administrative contractor for the program. Across the 12 (of over 100) quality measures chosen, there was modest but sustained improvement from 2014 through 2016. However community health center performance consistently lags behind other PMCH practices across the quality measures. Of particular concern…
Read MoreCT and surrounding states provide better than average quality care to Medicaid members
CMS has published a new Medicaid/CHIP scorecard to promote accountability and transparency in states’ programs. The site allows comparisons of state enrollment, eligibility, and access to relevant documents (state plan amendments and waivers) and expenditures. Most interesting is comparisons by state across adult and child health quality metrics for 2016. Like our neighboring states, CT…
Read MoreRest of US catching up with CT – Medicaid managed care doesn’t work
Two Health Affairs blog posts highlight the disappointments states are having with their capitated Medicaid managed care programs. Managed care across the US is growing fast, making big profits for private insurance companies, promising improved health outcomes and lowering costs. But CT found exactly the opposite effect when we shifted away from capitated managed care…
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