Stats & Data
Medicaid 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…
Read MoreConnecticut Medicare ACOs overspent by $45 million in 2016
Data from CMS show that in 2016 Connecticut’s Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) together spent $45 million more on care for Medicare beneficiaries above risk-adjusted benchmark spending levels. ACOs are networks of providers across the continuum that coordinate care for people and receive a share of the savings they generate. All of Connecticut’s Medicare ACOs only…
Read MoreTwo thirds of CT residents prioritize healthcare for their vote
The newest survey by InformCT found that 63% of state residents cited healthcare as the leading issue in their vote for CT’s next Governor. In Congressional races, healthcare was cited as the most important by 67% and by 65% for choosing between state House and Senate candidates. Healthcare was cited at virtually the same priority…
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)…
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