Candidates’ health care positions forming

Paul Bass of the New Haven Independent interviewed both candidates for Governor about their plans and a lot of the questions related to health care. Foley wants to emphasize community-based alternatives over increasing reimbursements to nursing homes; Malloy believes that both are needed as CT’s population gets older and health care needs increase. Malloy supports…

Read More

On the passing of Brandon Levan

We have some very sad news to share. Brandon Levan passed away last week after a three month bout with cancer. According to his brother, “Due to his strong will and character, he never gave in and he fought the cancer to his last breath and passed away with dignity and bravery.” Brandon was a…

Read More

PCCM/HUSKY Primary Care now on Facebook

The effort to move PCCM forward in Connecticut is taking a new turn – yes, we are joining Facebook! Type in “HUSKY Primary Care” on Facebook. The goal of this new group is to get people on or interested in HUSKY to talk about the exciting new option of PCCM/HUSKY Primary Care, with each other…

Read More

CSG/ERC meeting slides online

Health panel slides from last week’s CSG/ERC annual meeting in Maine are online. They include Sen. Richard Moore (MA) and Trish Riley/Karynlee Harrington (ME, Dirigo) on payment reform, Lisa Letourneau (ME Quality Counts) on patient-centered medical homes, and Alan Weil (NASHP) on state roles in national health reform.

Read More

Admitting mistakes and making an offer reduces malpractice suits

A new study has found that responding to medical errors with full disclosure, an apology and an offer of compensation significantly reduces lawsuits, costs and the time it takes to resolve claims. Since the policy was instituted in 2001, malpractice lawsuits filed against the University of Michigan Health System monthly dropped from 2.13 to 0.75…

Read More

Updated health policy basics

Just in time for Back to School, the CT Health Policy Project has updated our health policy basics module for student, intern and volunteer training.

Read More

More health policy at CSG/ERC meeting

Last week’s CSG/ERC annual meeting in Portland ME included talks by some health policy rock stars.Sen. Richard Moore, Senate Chair of MA’s Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, spoke in the Value to Volume panel. He described MA’s progress toward rewarding higher quality providers in the state employee health plan, using public reporting, and tiering…

Read More

Patient centered medical homes at CSG/ERC

At today’s Council of State Governments/Eastern Region Annual Meeting in Portland ME, we heard a fascinating panel on patient centered medical homes. We heard from Lisa Letourneau of Maine Quality Counts about their multi-payer PCMH pilot, including Medicaid – they have included community health centers, private practices and hospital-owned practices serving adults and children across…

Read More

DSS outlines options to move HUSKY away from capitation – or not

At yesterday’s Medicaid Care Management Oversight Council (formerly known as the Medicaid Managed Care Council), DSS outlined three policy options to restructure HUSKY’s financing. The options were a response to direction in the latest budget to move HUSKY from a fully insured, capitated system to a self-insured, ASO model; the budget included approximately $75 million…

Read More

More evidence that doctors and patients are not communicating

A new study by Yale and Waterbury Hospital researchers finds that despite the fact that physicians believe that they are completely explaining hospital discharge plans, many patients do not understand very basic information. 90% of patients report that they were never advised about side effects when prescribed new medications; in fact, only 25% report being…

Read More