US News’s hospital rankings out — CT performance disappointing

CT hospitals did not fare particularly well in the new 2011 US News hospital rankings. None ranked in the Honor Roll of best hospitals nationally. Only two of 47 total CT hospitals ranked nationally in any specialty – Yale New Haven #8 in diabetes and endocrinology and #7 in pediatrics: diabetes and endocrinology, and CT…

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News roundup

Hospital mergers accelerate Hartford Courant Hospitals working to reduce readmissions CT Mirror HUSKY improving with PCCM CT Health I-Team CT hospitals’ contribution to the economy CT News Junkie CT physicians’ contribution to the economy Hartford Business Journal Brokers’ role in health reform CT Mirror

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Video on impact of ACA in CT

A new video from Rep. Joe Courtney, CTHPP Board member, shows real patients and doctors describing the important benefits of the Affordable Care Act on CT residents, providers and small businesses right now.

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CSG/ERC health policy webinar

Join Stan Dorn of the Urban Institute for a webinar about the Basic Health Program option for states under the national Affordable Care Act. The webinar will be Monday, April 4th at noon. To register, go to https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/191056697. The Basic Health Program option can allow states to continue to cover higher income parents who have…

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Single payer reform moves forward in VT

This week I was in Montpelier for a CSG/Eastern Region state capitol visit. House committees were debating their single payer reform bill, H202. Virtually all the discussion revolves around how to do it, not whether to do it. More than once I heard policymakers remark that this is a huge undertaking, but “we have to…

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Getting health information exchange right

Anyone who shows up in an ER unconscious wants to know that the doctors treating them have all the information they need to make them well. It is also critical to keeping health costs down and reducing duplicate testing. But a proposed opt-out policy could jeopardize all that. An OP-ED by Helen George highlights the…

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Medicaid Council and PCCM updates

At Friday morning’s Medicaid Council meeting we heard from Mercer about their HUSKY quality review project. The authors pointed out that most of the measures were about paperwork, not outcome-based, and of limited usefulness. For example, the study measured the reading level of member handbooks but not whether any members actually received or used them.…

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FAQs about patient-centered medical homes in CT

As part of discussion of national health reform and SustiNet, questions have been raised about patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs) in our state. We have drafted responses to some of those questions including:What is a patient centered medical home? (Coordinated care delivered by a team that helps patients keep themselves healthy) What is a patient centered…

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MA health reforms did not reduce medical bankruptcies

A new study finds that health reform in MA, including the individual mandate, did little to reduce bankruptcies due to medical bills. The number of medical bankruptcies grew from 7,504 in 2007 to 10,093 in 2009; the proportion of bankruptcies due to medical bills dipped insignificantly from 59.3% to 52.9%. Insurance is not enough —…

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SustiNet passes Public Health Committee

Yesterday the Public Health Committee passed the SustiNet bill on a party line vote. Even legislators who voted against the bill praised most of the provisions and the intent of the bill. Concerns centered on potential state liability (although the bill requires SustiNet to be self-sustaining), that it will “take over” Connecticut’s insurance market (only…

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