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CT Health Reform Report Card
CT Health Reform Report Card Jun 19, 2024 CT inflation adjusted RN and NP pay Click Here Jun 4, 2024 CT Medicaid compared to other states – What the evidence says Click Here May 23, 2024 CT gets a D- for maternal mental health Click Here May 22, 2024 Study finds CT private healthcare payment…
Read MoreMedicaid update: PCMH+ limping along, bad news for HUSKY parents, and Medicare cuts loom
PCMH+, CT Medicaid’s experimental move back into financial risk that now impacts just over 100,000 people, survived the budget cuts – sort of. The PCMH+ budget was cut from $500,000 (state costs) last year to $300,000 this year, but the SIM federal grant has been devoting a lot of resources to the initiative. We have…
Read MoreNominations open for New England comparative effectiveness voting panel
The New England Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council is seeking nominations for new members. New England CEPAC is a group of clinicians, economists, and patient/consumer representatives that meets three times each year to take a deep dive into the evidence on the effectiveness and value of new drugs, devices and delivery system innovations. At the…
Read MoreCT ranks 3rd highest among states in high-deductible health plans
Analysis of new federal data by SHADAC finds that most people (59.3%) in CT covered by employer-sponsored health plans were in high-deductible plans last year, up from 40% in 2013. For purposes of this study, high-deductible plans are defined as meeting the minimum deductible amount required for Health Savings Account eligibility ($1,300 for an individual…
Read MoreAntibiotic prescribing down in CT but more needs to be done
Between 2010 and 2016, antibiotic prescriptions per person have declined 8% in CT, according to a report by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. The rate declined even faster (15%) for children. Unfortunately, CT’s rate is still higher than all but 16 other states. Overuse of antibiotics is blamed for contributing to the rise of…
Read MoreWebinar; CT Health Link — new CT Health Information Exchange
Next Thursday, September 28thfrom 10:00 to 11:30am the Complex Care Committee of the Medicaid Council (MAPOC) will host a webinar demonstrating a new statewide Health Information Exchange. The ability for all providers treating each patient to access the information they need to provide the best care is critical. The CT State Medical Society, with KaMMCO…
Read MoreEarly look at exchange premiums finds Hartford premium trends modest compared to other US cities
A Kaiser Foundation very early look at 2018 health insurance exchange monthly premium proposals, subject to change, across 21 US cities predicts that Hartford consumers will do well next year. The report compares early rate filings for a 40 year old non-smoker making $30,000/year choosing the second-lowest silver plan. Silver plans are the most popular.…
Read MoreDéjà vu at Medicaid Council meeting
Friday’s Medicaid Council meeting focused on the controversialPCMH+ shared savings program reminding many observers of years of rosy DSS presentations about the very similar, failed HUSKY MCO program. PCMH+ started six months ago with 137,000 members. The concept is to give Accountable Care Organizations (large health systems) a reason to lower the total cost of…
Read MoreStudy raises concerns about ACO “savings” and gaming the system
A new study published in Health Affairs raises doubts about the effectiveness of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) to both improve the quality of American health care while controlling costs. The study found very high physician turnover rates at a large Medicare ACO and that high cost patients were concentrated among a small minority of…
Read MoreApril CT Health Reform Dashboard – temporary relief at federal level but troubling payment model returns (again and again and again)
CT’s April Health Reform Dashboard is somewhat more settled than last month – but that’s not a good thing. Efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, plus cap Medicaid spending, were temporarily suspended, but are moving again at the federal level in the House. Despite the repeated lessons of history in CT, proponents…
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