quality
Surprisingly, Medicaid applications are down sharply with the pandemic
At Friday’s MAPOC meeting, DSS reported that HUSKY applications were down 40% in May from a year before. This was unexpected given massive increases in unemployment and predictions of over 100,000 new Connecticut Medicaid members because of the pandemic. In January, February and March, applications ran 15% to 20% higher than last year. But a…
Read MoreCTNJ: COVID Response Offers Opportunities for Connecticut’s Future Healthcare System
The pandemic has been tragic in both lives lost and economic damage, especially to low wage workers. Our already flawed healthcare system has been seriously disrupted. Insurer profits are up, hospitals are losing money, and Connecticut healthcare jobs in April were down 28,400 from the year before. As the pandemic winds down, the recovery offers…
Read MoreCost Cap project could reduce access to care, stifle efficiency and innovation, and increase disparities
Download the Summary or Full Report Healthcare costs a lot in Connecticut, especially for middle and lower income residents. Primary care is the foundation of a healthy health system. Lowering costs and supporting primary care are important goals, however the Office of Health Strategy’s (OHS) new plan to limit costs is ill-conceived and likely to…
Read MoreHospitals question viability and policy in OHS plans to share medical records
It’s unusual when independent consumer advocates and hospitals are on the same page. In a strongly worded letter, the CT Hospital Association laid out serious problems with OHS’s proposed plan to share data in their controversial Health Information Exchange (HIE). Only some hospitals were given the opportunity to comment on OHS’s plans. Under law, all…
Read MoreOpportunity to inform CT community public health priorities
The State Health Improvement Coalition is seeking community members from Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest Connecticut for input on prioritizing the most pressing public health needs for our state. Every five years, DPH creates a new plan to improve the health of our state in a model of inclusive, data-driven policymaking. The latest version will be…
Read MoreShare your ideas to support Connecticut health care coordination, access, and quality
The state is rushing to implement an expensive Health Information Exchange to access $48 million before a federal deadline. The state Office of Health Strategy (OHS) is moving forward very quickly despite concerns raised by consumers and providers about selling access to identifiable patient records to insurers and ACOs, privacy rights, the capacity of the…
Read MoreWords matter – Unintended consequences of rush for COVID-19 treatment and poor communication
Scientists are under great pressure, internal and external, to find successful treatments for people seriously ill with the new coronavirus. Scientists are heroes, working with exceptional “vigor and speed” to find options. Unfortunately, sometimes that pressure results in early results being misunderstood and misused. Research conducted during a pandemic is not optimal for rigorous science…
Read MoreIs Connecticut ready for COVID-19?
Almost half (45%) of Connecticut adults have one or more clinical risks that could complicate COVID-19 infections, very close to the US average of 44%, according to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund. The report compares states across clinical risk factors of adults, state health system capacity, insurance coverage and other cost barriers to…
Read MoreCTNJ: The recession is here, and healthcare is in the center of it
After the longest economic recovery in US history, we’ve been expecting a recession for a long time. We knew when it came, Connecticut healthcare would be hit hard. But no one expected this. Connecticut didn’t fare well in the last recession and we took longer than other states to build back the jobs we lost.…
Read MoreACA turns ten in troubled times
Ten years ago today, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act. While the nation is now reeling from a terrible pandemic, imagine if 17 million more Americans didn’t have healthcare coverage, insurers could still drop people with pre-existing conditions, and charge women and cancer survivors more. While it was important, the ACA was never meant…
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