Health Policy undergrad class resources online

The most recent slides, assignments, and syllabus, including reading list, for an undergraduate course in health policy are online. There is no required text for the class, but lots of readings. The course focuses on Connecticut health policy and is required of Public Health majors at Southern CT State University as a designated writing class.…

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CT News Junkie: What does it take to stop repeating a bad idea?

Albert Einstein believed the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result. Unfortunately, Connecticut policymakers haven’t learned this lesson. Provider financial risk is a bad idea that has failed both in our state and nationally. Read more

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Thirty-one independent consumer advocates share concerns with SIM’s latest push for capitation

Despite the historic failures of capitation in Connecticut and beyond, our state’s SIM health planning office is continuing the drumbeat to re-impose the risky system across our state, this time for primary care. In Primary Care Payment Reform: Unlocking the Potential of Primary Care, the SIM office is proposing set payments for primary care providers…

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CT life expectancy rising, but risks vary

A comprehensive, new analysis of public health outcomes, risks, and causes by state published in JAMA finds that life expectancy for CT residents rose from 77 years in 1990 to 80.8 year in 2016. Healthy life expectancy (maybe more important) also rose from 66.5 years to 69 years. States varied widely in the burden of…

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Smart CT Medicaid smoking cessation coverage

A new CDC analysis finds that CT’s Medicaid program is among the most progressive in covering smoking cessation treatments. Medicaid members are twice as likely to smoke as other Americans. Smoking-related treatment costs US Medicaid programs about $39 billion annually, so effective tools to quit are a smart investment for states. Despite improvements, most states’…

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