Monday, January 4, 2016

CT health reform progress meter not changed much

This month’s CT health reform progress meter ticked down very slightly this month, continuing its hover around the same 25% mark. Medicaid redesign planning is still on track, working collaboratively with all voices at the table. More Medicaid quality data confirms the program’s improvements including exciting news on health equity for high-cost, high-need members. However that good news was balanced by troubling news that SIM is pushing back against patient-centered medical homes. PCMHs and intensive care management for the most fragile are the only interventions proven to work to both improve quality and control costs, but SIM leaders continue their blindness to results and data. Troubling news about proposed hospital consolidations and resulting higher prices (with no improvement in value) and the possibility of thousands losing exchange coverage for missing paperwork drag down the state’s index.  But a new RWJ-funded project to support nursing in our state is a ray of hope. The CT health reform progress meter is part of the CT Health Reform Dashboard.