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Study finds only two thirds of CT patients getting primary care, 11th worst in US
Download the report A new study by Fair Health found that of Connecticut patients who had a medical visit from 2016 through 2022, one third (33.1%) had no claim for a primary care visit. Connecticut was 11th highest among states in patients missing primary care visits. At half of Connecticut’s rate, Massachusetts was the best…
Read MoreInsurance Committee passes bills prohibiting anti-competitive health system practices
This morning, the Insurance and Real Estate Committee approved two bills that prohibit huge healthcare systems from using their monopoly power to jack up prices and insurance premiums. The Committee’s bill passed unanimously; the Governor’s bill that also includes an out-of-network price cap passed overwhelmingly. The Committee passed a similar bill last year. It passed…
Read MoreInsurance committee to hear bills that mitigate consolidation and lower healthcare costs
Download our testimony One of the main drivers of Connecticut’s rising healthcare costs is consolidation in the healthcare market, making health coverage increasingly unaffordable for consumers, employers, and businesses. The consolidation of hospitals and providers into large health systems in Connecticut has stifled competition, allowing prices to rise unchecked. Large health systems use anti-competitive contract…
Read MoreBook Club: Making Numbers Count
If your job is to communicate policy and make sense of it, you need Making Numbers Count – The Art and Science of Communicating Numbers by Chip Health and Karla Starr. Numbers are the bedrock of policy (or they should be) but they are scary to 99.9% of people – including the people you need…
Read MoreBook Club — Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgement
Noise – A Flaw in Human Judgement by Daniel Kahneman, Oliver Sibony, and Cass Sunstein, is long, so it sat on my bookshelf for awhile. But it’s worth the time. Noise is the variation in judgements that shouldn’t vary. Judges should give similar sentences in similar cases, underwriters should find the same expected risks from…
Read MoreCT hospitals losing ground on social responsibility
Eight Connecticut hospitals received A grades this year for social responsibility from the Lown Institute, down from twelve last year. No Connecticut hospitals were in Lown’s or US News’ top 20 hospitals in the US. Griffin Hospital ranked #157 in Lown’s composite ranking this year among 3606 US hospitals, the best in Connecticut. Last year…
Read MoreBook Club: Think Again
You have to read Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant. We all think our minds are open, but we’re wrong. Intelligence is nice, but the critical skills are rethinking, relearning, and the courage to dump baggage. The Dunning-Kruger effect is real – the people with the most confidence…
Read MoreOHS primary care committee sharply critical of agency’s plan
In this month’s meeting of the Office of Health Strategy’s Primary Care Subgroup, patient and consumer advocates joined insurers raising very strong concerns about OHS’s plans and capacity to implement the agency’s plan for primary care in Connecticut. OHS plans to double the share of Connecticut’s healthcare spending on primary care while tightly restricting growth…
Read MoreCost Cap primary care project only focusing on raising spending, not services
At the October 26th Primary Care Subgroup meeting, in response to questioning by a member, the Office of Health Strategy’s (OHS) consultants repeatedly confirmed that the goal of the Cost Cap provision on primary care is solely to raise spending, not to increase services. Members raised serious concerns about sending more money into the current…
Read MoreSign on letter voices deep concerns with primary care capitation
Today twenty-five independent advocates and providers signed a letter to the Office of Health Strategy opposing capitation of primary care services across Connecticut. The letter shares serious concerns with the Office of Health Strategy’s (OHS) plan to shift all primary care in Connecticut to a capitated payment model. The current concerns echo advocates’ and legislators’…
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