quality
State Scorecard finds CT does fairly well, but poorly in Avoidable Hospital Use and Cost
The latest Commonwealth Fund State Scorecard finds CT’s performance across our health system ninth among states, unchanged from last year. While good, we can do much better given our rankings in personal income, education and overall high health status. We are 32nd among states in Avoidable Hospital Use and Costs, down by three from last…
Read MoreCT life expectancy rising, but risks vary
A comprehensive, new analysis of public health outcomes, risks, and causes by state published in JAMA finds that life expectancy for CT residents rose from 77 years in 1990 to 80.8 year in 2016. Healthy life expectancy (maybe more important) also rose from 66.5 years to 69 years. States varied widely in the burden of…
Read MoreCommittee develops care plan best practices recommendations for Medicaid
The Complex Care Committee of CT’s Medicaid Council has made recommendations to DSS for careplans in the Medicaid program. The importance of effective care plans has arisen often throughout the committee’s work diving deep into barriers to care for Medicaid members with complex health needs. Effective care plans ensure that people are driving decisions about…
Read MoreSIM update
Across various meetings this month we’ve received a few updates on CT’s SIM planning. CT is competing with 17 other states for 12 test grants. SIM staff has acknowledged receipt of the independent advocates’ letter to CMMI and an FOI regarding Consumer Advisory Board voting and SIM budget development, but we’ve had no response to…
Read MoreCT gets a C for pre-term births
A new report highlights CT’s disappointing performance in reducing pre-term births and ensuring our state’s newest citizens have a healthy start. Almost one in ten (9.4%) CT births happen before 37 weeks, ranking us 31st among states. Hartford County was worst at 10.1%; Litchfield was best at 7.7%. There is wide disparity in pre-term birth…
Read MoreCT Medicaid only state to earn A+ for access to HepC drugs
A new report finds that CT’s Medicaid program leads the US in access to new Hepatitis C medications. Hepatitis C affects 3.5 million Americans and causes more deaths than any other infectious disease. CT Medicaid imposes no liver damage, sobriety or prescriber restrictions to HepC drug access that are common in other states. The report…
Read MoreCT News Junkie Op-Ed: Is overtreatment really a thing?
There is a growing consensus in health policy circles that overtreatment is the source of all problems in our health care system. Like most common beliefs, there is some truth to it. For example, clinical research is clear that stents inserted into the arteries of people not having a heart attack do nothing to prevent…
Read MoreCMS finalizes important patient-friendly informed consent payment proposal
CMS has finalized their proposed Medicare rule (regulation) for how hospitals are paid that includes a new measure assessing the quality of hospital informed consent documents given to patients before elective procedures. (The relevant section, Potential Inclusion of the Quality of Informed Consent Documents for Hospital-Performed, Elective Procedures Measure starts hereon p. 373 of the…
Read MoreDPH launches website comparing CT quality and cost of hospital and nursing home care
Last week, CT’s Department of Public Health unveiled MONAHRQ, a web tool allowing consumers and other health care decision-makers to compare the quality, outcomes, utilization and costs of health care in our state. For example, Only three of CT’s 24 general hospitals are above average in patient ratings – Greenwich, Middlesex and Milford. Sadly, most…
Read MoreQuality challenges remain in CT Medicaid PCMHs
Also at Friday’s meeting, DSS reported on a selection of quality results from 2015, highlighting concerns. The results compared quality measures for patients receiving care from private practice and community health center Patient-Centered Medical Homes. In other programs, PCMHs have improved quality performance over non-PCMH practices. There remains a lot of room for improvement. Only…
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