A three-year investigation has determined that a tenured professor at the University of Connecticut Health Center fabricated and falsified data, the university announced Wednesday. The health center has begun dismissal proceedings against Dipak K. Das, director of the Cardiovascular Research Center and a professor in the department of surgery. It has notified 11 scientific journals […]
Arielle Levin Becker
Arielle Levin Becker covered health care for The Connecticut Mirror. She previously worked for The Hartford Courant, most recently as its health reporter, and has also covered small towns, courts and education in Connecticut and New Jersey. She was a finalist in 2009 for the prestigious Livingston Award for Young Journalists, a recipient of a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship and the third-place winner in 2013 for an in-depth piece on caregivers from the National Association of Health Journalists. She is a 2004 graduate of Yale University.
Posted inNews
Lawsuit: DSS understaffing produces illegal delays for Medicaid applicants
The state Department of Social Services has failed to employ enough workers to process Medicaid applications in the timeframe required by federal law, leaving thousands of low-income residents without access to health care coverage, legal aid attorneys alleged in a federal class action lawsuit filed Monday. “Over the last decade, DSS has been systematically stripped […]
Posted inHealth
Manchester Memorial, Rockville General back in UnitedHealthcare’s network
Manchester Memorial and Rockville General hospitals are once again part of the network of UnitedHealthcare and Oxford Health Plans after reaching a two-year contract agreement. The hospitals’ parent company, Eastern Connecticut Health Network, severed ties with UnitedHealthcare — which includes Oxford — in October after the previous contract expired without a new agreement. Since then, […]
Posted inNews
Blumenthal targets drug shortages, “gray market” hoarding
Treatment for Susan Block’s ovarian cancer required doctors, drugs and, critically, the intervention of a U.S. senator. The West Hartford woman was two days away from her fourth course of chemotherapy this summer when she learned that the drug was not available, causing her to miss the treatment. The drug Block needed, known as doxil, […]
Posted inHealth
Connecticut’s new partner in science tracks the root causes of disease, mouse by mouse
Bar Harbor, Me. — Every two weeks, the scientists at The Jackson Laboratory get a delivery, the findings from the latest “deviant search.” The caretakers responsible for the 1.25 million or so mice that populate the lab’s island campus at any one time take note of any critters that seem off, and send them over […]
Posted inHealth
Anthem, Eastern Connecticut hospitals reach contract agreement
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and the parent company of Manchester Memorial and Rockville General hospitals announced Thursday that they have renewed their contracts, avoiding the possibility that the hospitals would leave the insurer’s network. The agreement takes effect Jan. 1. Anthem and the hospitals’ parent company, Eastern Connecticut Health Network, did not release […]
Posted inNews
New autism program only underscores extreme need
The years of work that went into the Hospital for Special Care’s plan to open an autism center gave officials there a sense of the need for services. But the demand hit home the morning after a local newspaper detailed the New Britain hospital’s plans. “We got a phone call by 9 o’clock from a […]
Posted inHealth, Money
Working group on collective bargaining for home care workers draws critics, supporters
The fight over unionizing home care attendants continued Wednesday as the working group charged with recommending ways to structure collective bargaining rights for the workers heard testimony from the public. People who work as personal care attendants spoke of the challenges of doing their jobs with low pay, no benefits and no paid sick time. […]
Posted inEducation, Health, Money
After controversial executive order, child care workers vote to unionize
Child care workers paid through a state program voted by a wide margin to form a union, electing CSEA/SEIU Local 2001 to represent them in non-binding discussions with the state Department of Social Services. Family child care workers who provide services as part of the state’s Care 4 Kids program voted 1603 to 88 to […]
Posted inHealth, Money
Malloy urges nursing homes, union to settle contract dispute
The governor weighed in Monday on a contract dispute between a nursing home chain and the union representing its employees, urging HealthBridge Management and the New England Health Care Workers’ Union District 1199, SEIU, to reach an agreement. Last week, HealthBridge locked out 78 unionized workers at its West River Health Care Center in Milford, […]
Posted inNews
“Right-sizing” nursing homes
State officials are developing a plan to dramatically reshape the state’s long-term care system, just as demand for it is expected to skyrocket. The effort — referred to as “right-sizing” the system — is aimed at allowing more seniors and people with disabilities to live in community settings rather than institutions. If it goes as […]
Posted inHealth
Milford nursing home locks out unionized workers
The operator of a Milford nursing home locked out its 78 unionized employees Tuesday following what it said was a failure of the union to accept a final contract offer or make “significant and meaningful counterproposals.” HealthBridge Management said that trained and qualified nursing assistants and other service and maintenance workers are replacing the unionized […]
Posted inHealth
Farmington advocacy group files amicus brief in health reform lawsuit
Farmington-based Advocacy for Patients with Chronic Illness has filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the federal health reform law. The brief argues that one requirement of the reform law, prohibiting insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, is necessary to ensure that health insurance is available to all […]
Posted inNews
DSS considers restricting “financially unsustainable” Medicaid program, drawing rebuke from advocates
Warning that a portion of the state’s Medicaid program has become “financially unsustainable,” state officials have outlined ways to limit enrollment and scale back benefits in a “concept paper” sent to federal officials. The move has drawn criticism from advocates for patients and low-income residents, who say it would put some of the lowest-income adults […]
Posted inHealth
North Haven nursing home could be next to close
The operator of a North Haven nursing home is seeking state permission to close, making it the latest in a series of long-term care facilities to consider shutting down. Clintonville Manor has 112 beds but only serves 84 people, operator Melissa Simonetti wrote in a letter to the state Department of Social Services, requesting an […]