research
Connecticut’s uninsured rate up, reversing four-year trend
New numbers from the US Census Bureau report that 194,000 or 5.5% of Connecticut residents were uninsured last year. That number is up 22,000 from the year before when the uninsured rate was 4.9%. The new data breaks a trend of fewer uninsured that began with implementation of coverage expansions under the Affordable Care Act…
Read MoreCTNJ op-ed: Health disparities are real and new payment schemes are probably making them worse
Connecticut is a very healthy place; we rank fifth healthiest among states. But not all state residents share in that good fortune; too many suffer from health inequities. Very good people across the state are doing important work promoting better health for everyone. However some emerging policies, both government and private sector, are working at…
Read MoreLidocaine patch leads CT Medicaid drug spending
According to the latest data visualization from 46brooklyn, CT’s Medicaid program is spending a lot on lidocaine patches. Lidocaine is a local anesthetic that relieves nerve pain. Over the last three available quarters (Q3,4 2017 and Q1 2018), Lidocaine patches have topped CT Medicaid’s list of 25 most costly medications. This medication isn’t on the…
Read MoreNo CT hospitals make US News 2018 Honor Roll
No Connecticut hospital made US News’s Best Hospitals Honor Roll or their Best Children’s Hospitals Honor Roll this year. Four are nationally ranked in at least one specialty or performance area – Yale-New Haven (#1 in CT), Hartford Hospital (#2), St. Francis (#3) and Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. US News ranks hospitals based on patient…
Read MoreNew site compares Medicaid drug prices across states and overall drug price trends
There is a lot of drug pricing data available publicly but it is hard to synthesize. 46brooklyn has solved this problem by merging that data and putting it into understandable graphs and maps. The Medicaid drug pricing heat map is fascinating. Using CMS data to compare what state Medicaid programs are spending on prescriptions with…
Read MoreState individual mandate law would lower uninsured by 88,000 and premiums by 10%
A new analysis by the Commonwealth Fund estimates the impact if states passed their own individual mandate laws, similar to Massachusetts’ law that predated the ACA. According to researchers, by 2020 CT could expect our uninsured rate to drop by 34% with 88,000 more state residents having coverage. Most would gain coverage through Medicaid/CHIP (33,000)…
Read MoreMedicaid update: hints of new data and promises of more, call center wait times still long, but behavioral health progress
There was good and bad news at Friday’s Medicaid council meeting. Call center wait times are down to 85 minutes but more callers are giving up. There are signs of hope in fixing the new transportation problem and DSS has imposed sanctions (maybe a connection there), but concerns remain. But in good news, we heard…
Read MoreCTNJ op-ed — Facts, and data, are stubborn things
Big data is revolutionizing healthcare. The ability to collect reams of detailed information about how care is provided, how much it costs, and then to link that back to effectiveness and outcomes is powerful. New data tools offer the potential to improve individual and collective decision-making that targets just the right resources to the right…
Read MoreSummer reading: CT Medicine special issue highlights HIT in CT
The latest issue of CT Medicine, the CT State Medical Society’s peer reviewed journal, focuses on the great potential of Health Information Technology (HIT) to improve healthcare delivery, safety and building a learning system in our state. But it also highlights the substantial HIT challenges facing CT and stresses on physicians. The issue includes articles…
Read MoreICER to report on unjustified drug price increases
Early next year, the nonprofit Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) will issue its first report on US drug price increases that are not supported by clinical evidence. ICER is a leader in assessing the value of medical treatments, including medications. ICER’s benchmark price ranges for new drugs have been used by Medicaid programs,…
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