When a new patient asked whether she used electronic medical records, Dr. Kathleen LaVorgna mentally prepared herself to offer a list of reasons why not. But before LaVorgna, a Norwalk general surgeon in solo practice, could explain that the cost seemed prohibitive, the woman expressed relief. Dr. Kathleen LaVorgna “That’s great!” she told LaVorgna. The […]

A new survey found that many physicians are concerned about the effects of health care reform on their practices. But according to the survey, conducted by the firm Merritt Hawkins for The Physicians Foundation, many doctors expect their practices would be even more affected by the Medicare sustainable growth rate formula, the culprit behind a […]

Dr. Cliff O’Callahan doesn’t just keep tabs on his patients when they come to his office. The Middletown pediatrician fields e-mails and telephone calls from his patients’ parents. He and the nurses and care coordinator in his office keep track of patients’ visits to specialists. And anytime he gets a call about a particular patient, […]

When it was introduced last year, the SustiNet health plan was envisioned as a way to achieve universal health care coverage for the state. That was before federal health care reform changed the landscape for state-level reform efforts, putting Connecticut and the rest of the country on a path toward near-universal coverage by 2014. Now […]

A public hearing on a proposed 19.9 percent increase in Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield health insurance premiums became an outlet for anger at both the insurer and the department that regulates the industry Wednesday. Consumers spoke of struggling to pay for dwindling health insurance benefits, fears of businesses failing, and anger at what […]

Governor-elect Dan Malloy today asked the acting insurance commissioner, Barbara C. Spear, not to grant a rate increase for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield. “While I, of course, understand that there is only one Governor at a time, I believe Connecticut families would be best served by a hiatus on insurance rate increases,” Malloy wrote […]

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has asked the Connecticut Insurance Department to postpone a public hearing scheduled for Wednesday on a proposed rate increase for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield health insurance plans, saying that “critical evidence” is not yet available. Anthem has until 1 p.m. Tuesday to respond to Blumenthal’s motion, as well as […]

Payment rates for physicians and other health care providers in the HUSKY and Charter Oak programs, already considered inadequate by many providers, could get even lower under a policy change made earlier this year, prompting concerns among lawmakers and advocates that patients in the state programs could struggle to find doctors to treat them. “This […]

Gov. M. Jodi Rell has appointed Barbara C. Spear to serve as acting insurance commissioner. Spear replaces Thomas Sullivan, who is leaving the post for a job in the private sector. For the past two-and-a-half years, Spear, a Simsbury resident, has served as director of consumer services and business regulation for the department, overseeing consumer […]

When Governor-elect Dan Malloy chooses people to head state agencies, one of the closely watched announcements is likely to be for a once-obscure job–the insurance commissioner. The current commissioner, Thomas Sullivan, has become increasingly visible in the wake of controversial double-digit health insurance rate increases, and his successor is likely to play a more high-profile […]

Ever hear that cinnamon is good for your health? Maybe you Googled it, turning up thousands of sources proclaiming the spice’s powers in lowering blood sugar and blood pressure and helping with a host of other conditions. The word “miraculous” would have shown up more than once. After a thorough analysis of the existing research, […]

Tom Foley remained noncommittal Thursday about a potential legal challenge to the gubernatorial election as vote-counting continued in Bridgeport, but his campaign took steps late in the day to cast doubts about the election process in Connecticut’s largest city. The GOP nominee issued a statement raising a series of questions about ballots that reportedly hadn’t […]

Hartford and Windham hospitals have reached a “long-term” agreement on new contracts with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, averting the possibility that the capital region’s largest hospital would sever ties with the state’s largest insurer. The hospitals’ contract with the insurer was slated to expire today. The contract dispute played out in public in […]