The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner recorded more than 1,000 accidental overdose deaths for the first time in the last six years, and overall drug deaths in the state have nearly tripled in that time.
Mackenzie Rigg
Mackenzie is a former health reporter at CT Mirror. Prior to her time at CT Mirror, she covered health care, social services and immigration for the News-Times in Danbury and has more than a decade of reporting experience. She traveled to Uganda for the News-Times to report an award-winning five-part series about a Connecticut doctor's experience in Africa. A native of upstate New York, she started her journalism career at The Recorder in Greenfield, Mass., and worked at Newsday on Long Island for three years. She is a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she wrote her master's thesis about illegal detentions in Haiti's women's prison.
Posted inHealth, News
As overdose deaths continue to climb, a new state initiative
In this Sunday conversation, The Mirror sat down with Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, the commissioner of the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, to talk about the new “Change the Script” initiative to address the epidemic of drug overdose deaths in Connecticut and what the state is doing to reduce opioid addiction.
Posted inHealth
Lawsuits accuse staff at Whiting of psychological, physical torture
The lawsuits allege that the state employees responsible for the treatment and care of William Shehadi Jr., 59, subjected him to “daily mistreatment, degradation, physical assaults, ridicule and other forms of brutal and inhuman psychological, emotional and physical torture.”
Posted inHealth
Call-wait times for medical transport better but complaints persist
After having experienced some hours-long wait times, Medicaid patients haven’t had to wait longer than 15 minutes for someone to pick up the phone when calling about medical transportation in the last two weeks, according to Josh Komenda, president of Veyo, the state’s new non-emergency medical transportation contractor. But that figure was immediately challenged.
Posted inMoney
Malloy would cancel hospital tax cut, but again tighten Medicare program eligibility
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s new budget would cancel a planned tax reduction for Connecticut’s hospitals two years from now to help reduce big deficits down the road. The governor’s proposal falso would leave in place new eligibility restrictions lawmakers ordered last fall for the popular Medicare Savings Plan.
Posted inHealth
Community health centers, facing fund cutoff, get short reprieve
Despite congressional inaction, the federal agency that oversees community health centers has sent money to some centers in Connecticut and committed this week to send funding to more, giving them a temporary reprieve from potential layoffs and cuts to services.
Posted inHealth
Lawsuit charges state hospitals hold committed patients too long
The Connecticut Legal Rights Project hopes to force the state to develop a mental health system that has capacity at all levels of care, with a priority for supportive housing, so that institutionalized patients in state psychiatric facilities can be discharged within 90 days after they are deemed ready.
Posted inHealth
Panel annoyed by inability to question Medicaid transport firm
Members of a state panel on Wednesday were expecting an update from Veyo, the new medical transportation company that oversees rides for Medicaid recipients and has been the source of numerous complaints since it started working for the state Jan 1. But the state Department of Social Services, which hired Veyo, said they had excused the company from appearing.
Posted inHealth
Breaking down this year’s Access Health CT open enrollment
Data shows that the largest group of customers are those 55 to 64 years old and customers who pay full price tend to be younger.
Posted inEducation, Health, News
West Hartford teenager hopes to bring dental exams to schools
One teenager from West Hartford hopes to help more school-aged kids receive dental exams during these uncertain times. Months ago, Marwa Abdinoor, 17, decided to study the relationship between socioeconomic status and oral health for her senior research project. As part of her project, Abdinoor plans to offer free dental exams at at least two public schools in Hartford.
Posted inHealth
CT extends HUSKY B coverage for kids again, now through March
Connecticut officials have again extended health care coverage for more than 17,000 children and teenagers in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), this time through March 31. The program is known as HUSKY B in Connecticut.
Posted inHealth
New transportation contractor for Medicaid patients off to rocky start
Since Jan. 1, when a San Diego-based company called Veyo took over a program to drive Medicaid recipients to medical appointments, many patients have had to wait hours on hold when calling for rides; have missed or been late for critical medical appointments like dialysis, or were stranded at medical facilities when return rides didn’t arrive. The company is scrambling to fix the problems, its president said.
Posted inHealth, Justice
Whiting Forensic Division to separate from Connecticut Valley Hospital
Months after a patient-abuse case that led to the arrest of ten employees and the disciplining of dozens more, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has signed an executive order that separates the maximum security Whiting Forensic Division from Connecticut Valley Hospital.
Posted inHealth
CT extends health care coverage for kids through February
Connecticut officials have pushed back their deadline to end health care coverage for more than 17,000 children and teenagers to Feb. 28 because of partial funding approved by Congress before Christmas.
Posted inHealth
Friday is deadline to buy health insurance through Access Health
With one day left of open enrollment, 106,000 Connecticut residents were enrolled in health insurance through Access Health CT, the state’s exchange, and officials reminded residents that they still will face a federal tax penalty if they don’t have insurance in 2018.