CT Health Reform Dashboard responds to efforts to undermine constructive policies

  This month’s Health Reform Dashboardupdate reflects more attempts to unravel progress in CT.  Medicaid leads the concerns with broken promises on downside risk and attempts to weaken critical consumer notices about shifting provider incentives, potential underservice, and how to protect yourself. OHCA’s approval of YNHH’s acquisition of L&M health system will require a lot…

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Coalition calls for transparency, public input on Yale L+M deal

A broad coalition of consumer advocates, including the CT Health Policy Project, community leaders, caregivers, labor representatives, and providers has called on OHCA to engage the public and consider the community when implementing the unusual deal allowing Yale to purchase L+M hospital and physician group. In a letter to DPH, the coalition praised price caps…

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Almost one in six CT adults smokes cigarettes, rate steady and disparities persist

According to new numbers for 2014 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the US. Tobacco use is blamed for 480,000 premature deaths and over $300 billion in direct healthcare costs each year. Unfortunately CT is not immune; 15.4% of adults in…

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New England health policymakers meet to consider the future of hospitals

Last weekend NESCSO, the Millbank Fund and the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services convened a group of twenty-two state executive and legislative branch health policymakers in Portsmouth, NH to consider the future of hospitals in the region. All six New England states were represented. Hospital roles are evolving quickly with national and…

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Medicaid Council weighs in on Health Care Cabinet reform proposal

Last week’s Medicaid Council meeting focused on the controversial Strawman proposal for reforming CT’s health care system and the implications for Medicaid. We reviewed continuing progress in the program improving quality and access while controlling costs. State spending on the program is down, despite strong enrollment growth, and per person costs are stable saving the…

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Setting the Record Straight on Broken Promises, Now Let’s Move On

Medicaid advocates and providers have been talking a lot about the administration’s policy reversal with a troubling decision to consider downside risk as a payment model for Medicaid. A main source of concern is that stakeholders had clear and repeated promises from the administration not to implement downside risk in Medicaid. Click here to thrash through…

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Health Care Cabinet continues to debate reform plan; Medicaid commitment on downside risk reversed

Yesterday’s Health Care Cabinet meeting started with a statement by the Lieutenant Governor stating that the commitment made last year not to implement downside risk in Medicaid was time-limited to end with the state’s SIM grant in 2019. However that was never conveyed to advocates and, in fact, the state made a clear commitment, without…

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CT Medicaid ACOs announced

Provider networks authorized to negotiate for participation in PCMH+ (formerly MQISSP), CT Medicaid’s new shared savings program, have been announced. The winners are: Northeast Medical Group, St. Vincent’s Medical Group, Community Health Center, Inc., Cornell Scott-Hill Health Corporation, Fair Haven Community Health Clinic, Inc., Southwest Community Health Center, Generations Family Health Center, Inc., OPTIMUS Health…

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Downside risk explainer and response to Strawman payment model proposal published

In response to questions, we’ve published two new documents about the most controversial part of the Health Care Cabinet’s Strawman proposal for health reform in Connecticut. To help in understanding how downside risk might work, and whether it works, in the context of other options, we’ve developed a fairly short downside_risk_explainer. To address points offered…

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CT Health Reform Dashboard – Troubling Cabinet reform proposal would move CT backward

October’s CT Health Reform Dashboardupdate reflects the controversy surrounding the Health Care Cabinet’s controversial proposal for state health reform. The current proposal would move CT back into failed payment models and would break the administration’s promise to Medicaid members. Other concerns include a vague hospital consolidation deal that leaves a lot of accountability to administrative…

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