Medicare turns 46 Saturday, and on Friday, Hartford Hospital and Aetna commemorated the role of the two city institutions in launching the program, with an event that was part history lesson, part appreciation for the insurance program and, at least for the politicians invited, part opportunity to bash proposals to change Medicare. Aetna was an […]
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.
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States all over the map on exchange creation
The Kaiser Family Foundation reported Wednesday on states’ progress in developing one of the key pieces of federal health reform, the health insurance exchange, and found that Connecticut is among the states furthest along. The federal reform law requires each state to have a health insurance exchange–a marketplace for buying coverage–by 2014. The exchanges will […]
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DSS commissioner trying to push back a tidal wave of paper
On his BlackBerry, Roderick L. Bremby, the state’s new commissioner of social services, keeps photographs he took on visits to field offices to illustrate what his agency is dealing with. They show rows of file cabinets so full that papers get stored on top, files for long-term care patients that are several inches thick, and […]
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Hartford Hospital getting new CEO
Hartford Hospital will get a new CEO next week, while its current chief executive will continue to lead the hospital’s parent company. Jeffrey A. Flaks, Hartford Hospital’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, will become CEO Monday. President and CEO Elliot Joseph will remain president and CEO of Hartford HealthCare, the parent company. “Hartford […]
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Both sides praise health insurance rate review compromise
They started on opposite sides of the issue, but State Healthcare Advocate Victoria Veltri and Insurance Commissioner Thomas B. Leonardi are both praising an agreement reached last week that resurrects key pieces of a vetoed bill to increase oversight of health insurance rate hikes. In fact, Veltri and Leonardi said the deal–an agreement to hold […]
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Hospitals take lessons from the “happiest place on earth”
With plans to tie hospitals’ Medicare payments to patient satisfaction beginning next year, some hospitals are seeking advice from The Walt Disney Co., Phil Galewitz reports for Kasier Health News. At least 25 hospitals have signed multi-year consulting agreements with the entertainment giant, and some are sending employees to Disney World for a firsthand look […]
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New stem cell research covers bad knees to schizophrenia
Antibiotics, antivirals and other drugs have helped countless people, but for some, they can also cause liver damage. There’s no way to tell who’s susceptible until after it happens, and until recently, scientists trying to develop ways to find out sooner faced significant obstacles. For one thing, taking liver cells from a person for research […]
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Budget cuts eliminating beds for substance abuse treatment
MIDDLETOWN–So far, in his 25-year career as a state employee providing addiction treatment services, Ken Kroll has worked at two facilities that have since closed their substance abuse programs. Connecticut Valley Hospital, where he works now, has also cut back. And on Sept. 1, it will eliminate 20 detoxification beds and 60 rehabilitation beds for […]
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Panel recommends free birth control for the insured
The federal government should deem contraception a preventive service that insurance companies must fully cover under the federal health reform law, a committee recommended in a report released Tuesday. Under the law, health plans must cover preventive services identified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with no out-of-pocket cost to the plan […]
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For people in wheelchairs, calling a cab is not an easy option
When Charles Smyth’s sister called to say that their mother was dying and he should get to her bedside quickly, Smyth had another problem to deal with first: How to get to the hospital. Smyth is paralyzed and uses a wheelchair. He regularly takes a paratransit service for people with disabilities, but it must be […]
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Families facing loss of respite centers, their ‘saving grace’
Every few months, Jim Schmitt and his wife take their 14-year-old twin sons to a state-run respite center in Putnam for the weekend. He calls it a saving grace: It’s the only time he and his wife spend together without their boys, who have autism and do not speak. “You love your kids to death, […]
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Report: Connecticut residents provide 465 million hours of unpaid care to relatives
Connecticut residents spent 465 million hours serving as unpaid caregivers in 2009, providing care to family members that would have cost $5.8 billion if it had to be provided by paid workers, according to estimates in a report released Monday. The report, “Valuing the Invaluable: The Growing Contributions and Costs of Family Caregiving, 2011 Update,” […]
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Despite budget woes, more stem cell grants coming soon
Members of a state panel will spend Tuesday reviewing grant applications to award another round of funding for stem cell research. The Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee is expected to award $9.8 million in grants to researchers, part of the state’s 10-year, $100 million commitment to funding the work. In previous years, then-Gov. M. Jodi […]
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Blumenthal takes Lyme disease fight to the Senate
NEW HAVEN–As attorney general, Richard Blumenthal won praise from the vocal group of Lyme disease patient advocates who believe the illness can be a chronic condition–and the ire of many doctors–when he challenged a medical society’s guidelines for treating the controversial tick-borne ailment. On Monday, Blumenthal announced that he plans to continue his Lyme disease […]
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Malloy signs bill inspired by Rockville birthing center closure
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has signed a bill requiring hospitals to get state approval before eliminating inpatient or outpatient services, reversing a change made last year. The bill was inspired by the closure of the birthing center at Rockville General Hospital last year, which occurred without a public approval process. Previously, hospitals seeking to terminate […]