CT teaching hospitals received $8.3 million from drug and device manufacturers last year

New data shows that nineteen teaching hospitals and 11,016 physicians in CT received payments from drug and device manufacturers last year. Open Payments, the searchable federal data source, was created by the Affordable Care Act which requires that drug and device manufacturers disclose payments to physicians and teaching hospitals. While every CT hospital received some…

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27 minutes average ER wait time for Connecticut

Governing magazine reports that in 2014 the average Emergency Room patient in Connecticut waited 27 minutes for care. That wait is similar to neighboring states but well below Maryland with the longest wait at 46 minutes, and well above Colorado and Utah where patients waited only 16 minutes. The article cites CMS Hospital Compare Data.…

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Northeastern physicians lowest paid in US

According to Medscape’s 2016 Physician Compensation Survey, at $266,000 physicians from Northeastern states have the lowest incomes in the US. Medscape reports that uneven distribution between physicians and patients drives compensation levels. Just over half (52%) of US physicians believe that their compensation is fair. Specialists tend to make more than primary care doctors; highest…

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Radiologists’ cuts discussed at Medicaid committee meeting

Friday’s MAPOC Complex Care Committee included a presentation on the cut to radiologists’ rates this last session. Representatives of the Radiological Society of Connecticut outlined the across-the-board cuts effective last April that dropped payments for interpreting images from 100% to 57.5% of Medicare rates, lower than rates paid by other states. The physicians are concerned…

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25 CT hospitals decline to respond to Leapfrog quality survey

Only five CT hospitals reported quality and patient safety data to the Leapfrog Group this year – Bristol, Backus, Dempsey, Stamford and Windham hospitals. The hospitals that did report performed very well in general. Released this morning, the 2015 Leapfrog survey covers nineteen areas including maternity care, high risk surgeries, hospital acquired conditions and resource…

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Advocates’ guide to underservice recommendations

Connecticut’s State Innovation Model (SIM) is seeking to radically transform our state’s $30 billion health system by aligning incentives to build value. SIM has chosen a shared savings payment model for those reforms. Advocates are concerned about incentives to deny necessary care under the new payment model, as happened in the past. SIM’s Equity and…

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Study finds CT early Medicaid expansion reduced hospital uncompensated care

A new study published in this month’s Health Affairs finds that CT hospital Medicaid revenue grew by 7 to 8% after CT took advantage of the ACA’s early Medicaid expansion option in 2010. The study also finds that uncompensated care costs to CT hospitals were one third lower than they would have been without the…

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New tool allows comparison of local surgeons’ safety record

Patients considering surgery often check their hospitals’ quality rating, but the your surgeon’s safety rating can be even more important. Half of US hospitals have surgeons with both high and low complication rates. ProPublica’s new Surgeon Scorecard allows patients to compare the safety record of surgeons by hospital. ProPublica used Medicare data to calculate surgeon’s…

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