NCQA patient-centered medical home webinar video posted

A recording of today’s webinar with NCQA about patient-centered medical home recognition is posted online. Experts from NCQA described their process and standards for patient-centered medical homes and the benefits to Connecticut. The slides are posted online as well.

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SIM FAQs updated

We’ve updated the Frequently Asked Questions about CT’s SIM plan. SIM is the state’s newest plan to radically reform health care delivery and payment across the entire state. Advocates have raised concerns that the plan doesn’t do enough to protect consumers from stinting on care resulting from payment reform, could reverse recent progress in CT’s…

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News: Independent CT hospitals discussing tiered networks, Pre-ACA CID routinely approved very high rates for Aetna

The Hartford Business Journal is reporting that some smaller, independent CT hospitals are in discussions with each other and with insurers about options that improve their efficiency and make coverage more affordable. The hospitals are talking with insurers about value-based insurance designs or tiered networks where consumers who choose to access care at lower priced…

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Webinar: The value of NCQA recognition of patient-centered medical homes

Join us for a webinar with National Committee for Quality Assurance experts Thursday, May 29th at 1pm to learn about their patient-centered medical home recognition standards updated for 2014. NCQA has the most widely adopted standards, with a growing list of 1,009 certified PCMHs in Connecticut. There is substantial evidence linking nationally recognized PCMHs with…

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CTNJ op-ed: Privacy and trust concerns at CT’s APCD

Advocates are raising concerns about the privacy of sensitive medical records at Access Health Analytics, our state’s all-payer claims database (APCD). At the CT Health Policy Projects we have been great supporters of an APCD for CT knowing that, if done well, it could be a powerful tool to give consumers information about the cost…

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Exchange tweaks for 2015 offerings – weak on affordability, expanded networks, HSAs

Changes for next year’s CT health insurance exchange plan offerings are small and unlikely to change premiums much. Cost sharing for the most affordable plans will be rising, with consumers paying more for services. Studies find that even modest increases in cost sharing lead consumers to reduce both necessary and unnecessary care, and can drive…

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New to the CT Health Policy Book Club – Reinventing American Health Care

I received the newest addition to the CTHPP Book Club — Reinventing American Health Care: How the Affordable Care Act Will Improve our Terribly Complex, Blatantly Unjust, Outrageously Expensive, Grossly Inefficient, Error Prone System — when the author, Ezekiel Emanuel, came to an ICER boarddinner in Boston this spring. He spent the evening talking and…

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CHC quality conference: Reimagining primary care

Yesterday’s ninth annual Weitzman Institute conference on improving the quality of care did not disappoint. National and CHC, Inc. speakers touched on workforce and technology innovations to build primary care capacity and improve quality of care, engaging youth in coverage expansions, connecting medicine to community services to stop the expensive treadmill of treating preventable health…

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Cabinet meeting – exchange and SIM updates

Most of today’s Cabinet meeting was spent on SIM’s decision to create a CT-specific medical home standard rather than using well-vetted, evidence based national standards. (May 29th we are hosting a webinar with NCQA to learn more about the NCQA system that has certified 1,009 PCMH providers in CT already. Register here.) Questions were raised…

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Webinar: The value of NCQA recognition of patient-centered medical homes

Join us for a webinar with National Committee for Quality Assurance experts Thursday, May 29th at 1pm to learn about their patient-centered medical home recognition standards updated for 2014. NCQA has the most widely adopted standards, with a growing list of 1,009 certified PCMHs in Connecticut. There is substantial evidence linking nationally recognized PCMHs with…

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