January’s CT Health Reform
Dashboard update reflects CT’s changing health care landscape. Uncertainty
is fueled by a significant state budget deficit and, at the federal level, the ACA
repeal and radical plans to change Medicaid. The Health Care Cabinet’s attempts
at reform are mercifully over. It’s unclear how much of the very contentious
report will survive, but the lack of consensus around most of the
recommendations are not encouraging. One good thing that came out of the
process was uncovering CT’s trust issues among health care stakeholders and how
it is holding back progress – at least we are talking about it. The Cabinet
turns next to prescription drug cost control with a lot of room for agreement
on that issue. We await the CON taskforce’s recommendations, the start of PCMH
+, Medicaid’s experiment in shared savings, and how state oversight of YNHH’s
acquisition of L&M will play out. 2017 promises to be eventful.
