20 independent advocates share concerns about SIM’s plans for Medicaid

Yesterday twenty independent consumers, advocates and providers sent a letter to the Lieutenant Governor expressing our grave concerns about the “current plans for widespread precipitous changes” in Medicaid’s payment model. The letter outlines concerns about re-imposing financial risk, this time on providers of care, that creates incentives to deny needed care. States with far more…

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Tolland County healthiest in CT; New Haven County least healthy

According to County Health Rankings and Roadmaps, overall residents of Tolland County are the healthiest in our state, but there is wide variation between measures. For instance Tolland County scored lowest among CT counties in physical environment with the highest rate of drinking water violations and long commutes driving alone. Tolland County is lowest in…

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Big improvement — almost three out of four CT physicians accepting new Medicaid patients

A new analysis by the Centers for Disease Control finds that 72.5% of CT office-based physicians accepted new Medicaid patients in 2013, better than the US average of 68.9%. This is a big improvement over a different survey in 2011 finding that only 60.7% of office-based physicians in CT were accepting new Medicaid patients –…

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A Better Idea for SIM-Medicaid: Coordinate Care for High-Need, High-Cost Patients

Independent consumer advocates and others have raised grave concerns about Connecticut’s State Innovation Model (SIM) plans to radically change financial incentives in our state’s Medicaid program. The experience of other states offers a proven alternative, targeting resources toward high-need, high-cost patients, that would protect the impressive success we’ve achieved in the last three years. This…

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CT health reform progress moving backward

CT’s progress toward health reform dropped from 29.0% to 27.4% this month mainly because of SIM setbacks and state budget cuts. Both implemented and new proposed cuts to Medicaid provider rates threaten significant progress over the last three years. Cuts to the promising health neighborhood project and a rush into risky shared savings models threaten…

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Unfortunate SCOTUS decision limits Medicaid provider rights

A decision yesterday by the US Supreme Court reversed a Ninth Circuit decision and ruled that providers do not have the legal right to sue a state Medicaid program under the federal Medicaid act. Armstrong v. Exceptional Child Center involved an Idaho clinic suing the state because rates were too low to ensure adequate access…

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