Authorities Update

Both the Primary Care and HealthFirst Authorities met yesterday, the later most likely for the last time. The HealthFirst Authority meeting featured Jonathan Gruber, an MIT economist, who is the leading proponent of individual mandates across the US. He championed the mandate in MA and is working with other states and the fed.s on building…

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Donaghue Foundation conference notes

The Donaghue Foundation held their annual conference titled “Innovation in the quest for better health: Patient driven transformations in research, technology, and treatments.” The conference was well-attended by people from a wide variety of organizations, from hospitals to banks and non-profits. The first speaker was Alejandro Jadad, MD, Chief Innovator & Founder, Center for Global…

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New consumer tip sheets

The Consumer Health Action Network has published new tip sheets and the new federal poverty levels. The tip sheets, available in English and Spanish, include Finding Health Insurance After You Lose Your Job, Individual Insurance Plans: What to Look Out For, and our Updated COBRA tip sheet. The poverty levels are used to determine eligibility…

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Recent media stories highlighting medical error s in CT

Efraim Gomez-Zapata, Stamford physician, will have a hearing this week before the medical examining board and is facing a civil suit. A family practitioner, Dr. Gomez is not board certified in cosmetic surgery or anesthesia. However, he has been advertising himself as a leader in laser liposuction surgery in the Hispanic community. Apparently this is…

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April 30th briefing on proposed elimination of legal immigrant coverage

Next Thursday, April 30th at 10:30am in Room 1E of the LOB, the CT Health Foundation will hold a briefing on budget proposals to eliminate health coverage for legal immigrants and proposals to increase copays and other costs on all HUSKY families. Two policy briefs will be released at the briefing. Speakers include Pat Baker…

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PCCM subcommittee to meet

At the last Medicaid Managed Care Council meeting, a subcommittee was formed to follow and advise DSS on implementation of the HUSKY PCCM program. The first meeting of that subcommittee will be May 20th at 10am in Room 3800 of the Legislative Office Building (LOB) in Hartford. For directions to the LOB, click here. The…

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Obesity and overweight in Connecticut forum

May 14th the CT Public Health Institute will release their study of the problem of overweight and obesity in CT including background, costs and consequences, and possible interventions. The forum was originally scheduled for May 5th. The study was funded by the Universal Health Care Foundation of CT. The forum will be at the Wilde…

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eHealth consumer privacy forum begins an important discussion

The Connecticut Health Policy Project and AARP- CT hosted a forum yesterday on electronic medical records at the State Capitol in Hartford – eHealth: Why Consumers Should Care. The purpose of the forum was to provide information about electronic medical records and to get input from advocates and consumers on privacy and security issues. The…

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Medicaid Managed Care Council update

At today’s meeting, ACS reported that there are 337,533 CT residents covered by HUSKY Part A as of April 1st, up more than 6,000 from March. HUSKY Part B now covers 15,063, moving back toward its pre-July 08 levels. There are also 7,068 people covered by the Charter Oak Plan, however 3,319 Charter Oak applications…

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What is public health?

The US is the most powerful country in the world, right? So why aren’t we the healthiest? Last week was Public Health Week. (I didn’t miss it, I was just busy celebrating.) Click here for a great video explanation of what public health is, and how we can become the healthiest nation in one generation.…

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