How was your hospital stay? Patient opinions are soon going to play a role in how Medicare pays hospitals, reports Jordan Rau of Kaiser Health News. Linking hospital reimbursement levels to patient satisfaction is part of the federal health reform law, and the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is working out the details […]
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 inHealth, Money
Refilled DSS eligibility positions exempt from hiring freeze
The expanded hiring freeze announced Friday does not affect the recent approval of hires to fill vacant eligibility positions at the state Department of Social Services. In a memo to agency heads Friday, Office of Policy and Management Secretary Ben Barnes said that previously approved refill authorization for most vacant positions had been rescinded. But […]
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Judge orders four nursing homes closed
A Superior Court judge has ordered the closure of four financially-troubled nursing homes that together have 472 beds and employ 575 people. Judge Jerry Wagner’s ruling Thursday follows a recommendation from the state-appointed receiver in charge of the homes that they be closed because of financial problems. Wagner ordered the receiver, Phyllis A. Belmonte, to […]
Posted inHealth, Money
New hospital tax formula makes new winners and losers
A new method for calculating the proposed tax on hospitals, part of the budget agreed to by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Democratic legislators, changes the projected financial outcomes for hospitals. Yale-New Haven Hospital would gain $27.2 million under the plan. Greenwich Hospital remains the biggest projected loser, although its loss–$7.3 million–would be less than […]
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Fight for ‘public option’ goes on, Donovan tells SustiNet rally
A week after lawmakers reached a compromise that leaves SustiNet backers short of their goals, leaders of the push for the proposed state-run health plan told supporters that the fight isn’t over. House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan, one party to the compromise, told the crowd that their goals would be achieved. “We’re going to open […]
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Health care reform forum draws thin crowd with broad concerns
DANBURY–Two women worried about losing their health insurance wondered what they could do. An insurance broker asked how more money could be squeezed out of insurance companies that he said make modest profits. And in less than a half hour, everyone in the audience who wanted to speak had spoken. The crowd wasn’t big, but […]
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The word from Washington: ‘We have a lot of challenges’
Connecticut’s new man in Washington on Tuesday offered state agency leaders a glimpse at the job of trying to secure funding from a deficit-conscious Congress, in the midst of what he called a debate over the scope of the federal government. Don’t expect new federal programs, Dan DeSimone, director of the governor’s Washington D.C. office, […]
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Berwick: Connecticut can be a prototype in health system changes
Connecticut can be a prototype for the country in implementing federal health reform and transforming the health care system, a key Obama administration official said during a visit to the state Monday. Dr. Donald M. Berwick, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the state can do so by “getting everyone around […]
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Free preventive care isn’t always free
Under the federal health reform law, insurers must pay for the full cost of preventive services, leaving patients with no out-of-pocket costs. But according to Harris Meyer of Kaiser Health News, it’s not always that simple. If a preventive test uncovers a problem that gets dealt with during the same visit–say, a colonoscopy that leads […]
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Federal health officials to take questions on health disparities
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has a plan to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities, and federal health officials will take questions about it during a webcast Monday at 1 p.m. Panelists include Dr. Garth Graham, deputy assistant secretary for minority health at HHS, Dr. Carolyn Clancy, director of the Agency for […]
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SustiNet backers not giving up on public option
Supporters of the proposed SustiNet state-run health plan were meeting Wednesday night when word trickled in that lawmakers had reached an agreement on the proposal. It would not include offering state-run insurance to the public, a key goal of supporters. But it would create a SustiNet cabinet to oversee health reform efforts. A doctor in […]
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The start of a medical home boom?
Two large medical groups have become officially recognized patient-centered medical homes, significantly increasing the number of Connecticut health care providers with the designation. The patient-centered medical home concept is becoming increasingly popular in health care. It emphasizes care coordination, with health care providers taking responsibility for all of their patients’ health care needs, including arranging […]
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Budget deal restores some social services cuts, leaves others
The budget agreed to by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Democratic legislators restores funding to several health and social services programs that the governor initially proposed trimming. But it also leaves in place other cuts that advocates have decried and relies on higher assumed Medicaid savings than the governor’s original proposal. Out are plans to […]
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State officials going on the road to talk about federal health reform
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s town hall meeting tour is finished, but other state officials will go back on the road for five public forums to explain and get feedback on a key part of federal health reform. The 90-minute meetings will address the health insurance exchange, a marketplace for health insurance that will offer a […]
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SustiNet deal reached, but without a ‘public option’
The Malloy administration and Democratic legislative leaders have reached an agreement on the proposed SustiNet state-run health plan, with a deal that calls for opening the state employee health plan to municipalities and some nonprofits, but not for offering insurance to the public. The agreement would also establish a “SustiNet cabinet” advisory panel within the […]