providers - CT Health Policy

PCMHs in CT – not the “shiny new toy” anymore but moving forward improving care, controlling costs

By Ellen Andrews | June 18, 2019 |

Ten years ago, patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs) were exotic in Connecticut. PCMHs are one of the best documented innovations to improve health. PCMHs are primary care practices that help keep people well by assessing needs, coordinating care, and giving people the skills and resources to maintain their own health. As a nurse managers told me,…

New PCMH + plans overlook past problems

By Ellen Andrews | June 14, 2019 |

Wednesday DSS and Mercer unveiled their thinking about plans for Wave 3 of PCMH Plus, Medicaid’s controversial shared savings program. Results from PCMH Plus’s first year, Wave 1, were disappointing with increased state costs and little evidence of improvement in quality. Based on the problems identified in Wave 1, advocates made recommendations to fix those…

2019 Connecticut legislative session – what happened and what didn’t happen

By Ellen Andrews | June 6, 2019 |

Download the full report Connecticut’s General Assembly debated an unusually large number of health-related proposals this year. Some were new and some have been debated for years. Some passed, some were rejected, and some are on hold for next year. As of this writing, only the minimum wage increase bill has been signed into law…

State budget deal restores coverage for 4,000 HUSKY parents, a move toward quality-based payments, and insurance protections

By Ellen Andrews | June 4, 2019 |

Policymakers have reached a $43 billion state budget deal to cover the next two fiscal years, on-time before the end of the session. For health policy folks, there is a lot to like in the deal but a few notes of caution. The best part is a partial restoration of HUSKY parents’ eligibility cuts from…

YNHH transportation plan for controversial primary care shift troubling, concerns remain

By Ellen Andrews | May 31, 2019 |

Monday, Yale-New Haven Health System answered the state’s eighth set of questions about their controversial application with the Hill Health and Fairhaven Health Centers to move primary care for 25,000 mainly low-income New Haven area residents out of the current neighborhood sites to Long Wharf. Among many concerns voiced by patients, advocates and community leaders…

CT Healthcare Jobs Pay Very Well

By Ellen Andrews | May 9, 2019 |

Among the top 12 highest-earning Connecticut occupations last year, 11 are doctors, dentists or nurses, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Chief Executives is the only non-healthcare occupation to crack the top 12 list. Lowest paid healthcare workers included Personal care assistants (20th from the bottom) and Home health aides (28th from the bottom).…

Better, safer ideas to support primary care in Connecticut

By Ellen Andrews | April 25, 2019 |

Download the report Primary care is the foundation of the health system. It is, or should be, patients’ first interaction with the healthcare system for non-urgent issues. There is strong evidence that care coordination linked to primary care practices, such as patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs), foster improved health while lowering costs.[i] Areas with more primary…

Practical Wisdom – The Right Way to Do the Right Thing

By Ellen Andrews | April 22, 2019 |

New to the Book Club Why do our institutions and systems, including healthcare, seem to be getting more complex and more costly but not better? This fascinating book argues that we have lost practical wisdom – the ability to balance the need for reasonable rules and standards with doing the right thing. The law of…

What We’re Reading

By Ellen Andrews | April 12, 2019 |

Pharma lobbyists flooded Maryland to block a drug-pricing bill. Opponents pushed back – and won. STAT – The story behind the story of how a group of consumer advocates and legislators were able to prevail over Pharma’s considerable resources to get a bill passed to push back on sky high drug prices and protect consumers…