providers
CT hospital Medicare hospital-acquired condition penalties much higher than US average for third year in a row
Next year fourteen of Connecticut’s 31 hospitals will be penalized by Medicare for poor rates of potentially avoidable complications, according to an analysis by Kaiser Health News. While this is down from eighteen this year, it is almost three times higher than the US average. Seven Connecticut hospitals have been penalized under this program every…
Read MoreNew England health policymakers meet to consider the future of hospitals
Last weekend NESCSO, the Millbank Fund and the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services convened a group of twenty-two state executive and legislative branch health policymakers in Portsmouth, NH to consider the future of hospitals in the region. All six New England states were represented. Hospital roles are evolving quickly with national and…
Read MoreLots of hospital quality news, CT not excelling
In the last few days several sources have released hospital quality rankings and measures. The bottom line — CT’s hospitals have a lot of work to do. CMS released their long-awaited five star system for hospital ratings, but no CT hospitals received five stars. In fact, only one earned four stars (Backus), 17 received…
Read MoreAugust CT Health Policy Webquiz: Top salaries at CT hospitals and health systems
Test your knowledge of top salaries at CT’s hospitals and health systems. Take the August CT Health Policy Web Quiz.
Read MoreCT 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…
Read More27 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.…
Read MoreNortheastern 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…
Read MoreRadiologists’ 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…
Read More25 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…
Read MoreAdvocates’ 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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