Study finds CT private healthcare payment rates more than double Medicare’s, close to US average

A new study by RAND analyzing provider payments rates for commercial plans finds Connecticut’s 2022 rates averaged two and half times (258%) what Medicare would’ve paid for the same services at the same hospital (Relative Price). There was little variation by overall type of services. However, individual Connecticut hospitals varied considerably in Relative Price. There…

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Medicaid MCOs and quality, access – What the evidence says

Go to the full report Governor Lamont is reportedly considering a plan to have private insurance managed care plans (MCOs) run Connecticut’s Medicaid program. Do MCOs improve quality or access to care in state Medicaid programs? We looked into the evidence. In a word, No. From the literature: The evidence does not support Medicaid MCOs…

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Medicaid MCOs and cost savings – What the evidence says

Go to the full report Governor Lamont is reportedly considering a plan to have private insurance managed care plans (MCOs) run Connecticut’s Medicaid program. Do MCOs save states money in state Medicaid programs? We looked into the evidence. In a word, No. From the literature: The evidence does not support Medicaid managed care saving money…

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NoHuskyMCOs – New resource to preserve Medicaid success

Go to NoHuskyMCOs.org for up to date information on plans to return control of Connecticut’s Medicaid program to private insurance company managed care plans (MCOs). From 1996 through 2011, Connecticut Medicaid was run by MCOs, and it was deeply troubled. The program ended under pressure from advocates, providers, and legislators. Since the MCOs left Connecticut…

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US News: CT is 3rd best in US for healthcare

Based on surveys of state residents on their priorities for state government and health data, Connecticut is third best among states for healthcare, our highest ranking among categories. Healthcare was equally weighted between access (#3 among states), quality (#21), and public health (#6). The subtopics for each health category are: Access Quality Public health Adults…

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Book Club – Super Forecasting: The Art and Science of Predicting

The title makes a big promise, but this book delivers. The book starts with examples through history of “experts” who were followed, even when evidence they were wrong was obvious. Healthcare is full of these examples, and the authors cite a few. In 2005, Phillip Tetlock published a very large 20-year study measuring the accuracy…

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From 2011 to 2022, CT hospital budgets devoted 12% to administration labor and 30% to direct patient care labor

Download the brief Download the data Parsing the latest data from NASHP’s Hospital Cost Tool finds that in 2022, Connecticut’s acute care hospitals averaged almost 32% of their budgets on direct patient care labor and just under 12% on labor costs for administration, which includes management, administration, and payments to their larger health system (called…

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CT middle of the pack for doctors

Connecticut ranks 29th in a new analysis on the Best and Worst States for Doctors by Wallet Hub. Physicians are seventeen of the twenty highest paid US workers. Connecticut tied for 45th worst for the highest malpractice award payouts. We rank 15th in our Medical Environment, which includes the quality and safety of hospital care,…

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Connecticut health care coverage continues slow shift from private to public coverage

Download the report The latest numbers from the US Census on US health coverage in 2022 found that, as in the past, most Connecticut residents are covered through an employer-sponsored plan. Publicly-funded Medicare and Medicaid each cover about one in five Connecticut residents. While employer-sponsored coverage has slowly declined since 2008, public programs have grown,…

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CT ranks ninth worst in ED wait times

A new analysis by Becker’s Hospital Review of CMS data finds that patients wait an average of 186 minutes to be seen in a Connecticut emergency room. The national median was 162 minutes. The study covered April 2022 through March 2023. Connecticut hospitals varied considerably in average wait times from 98 minutes at Lawrence &…

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