Stats & Data
CTNJ: CT uninsured rate up, especially for higher income households
New Census data on the uninsured is always a big event for policy types. This year most expected the numbers to rise, but the data had a surprise. Read more
Read MoreAnother reason to be glad HUSKY fired managed care
New favorite quote – “If you have a dumb incentive system, you get dumb outcomes.” Charlie Munger, quoted by 46brooklyn A new analysis by 46brooklyn highlights the extra costs to Medicaid managed care programs of drug industry middlemen. Ohio’s Medicaid program pays $224 extra in markups to Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) hired by managed care…
Read MoreCT hospital readmission penalties up for next year
Next year, Medicare will penalize CT hospitals by an average of 0.74% in readmission penalties and all CT hospitals will pay a penalty, according to an analysis by Kaiser Health News. Nationally hospital penalties averaged less at 0.57%, and 574 US hospitals will have no penalty. Since 2012 hospitals have been penalized if they have…
Read MoreMedicaid update: Enrollment numbers coming finally, highlighting progress
Friday’s Medicaid Council meeting focused on enrollment numbers and reviewing achievements in the program. DSS outlined challenges that have delayed reporting enrollment numbers for two years and their new system for reporting the numbers. Rather than getting enrollment reports on paper as in the past, DSS is posting the data on CT Open Data. Visitors…
Read MoreConnecticut’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 MoreCT excels at getting Medicaid-eligible families enrolled
A new study finds that 96.3% of CT children eligible for HUSKY participated in the program in 2016; we are tied for seventh among states. The US average is 93.7% for all states; 94.9% for states, like CT, that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Even better, CT ranks fourth among states in enrolling…
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…
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