Would binding arbitration or a “cooling-off period” help to avert the protracted contract disputes that can lead hospitals and insurers to threaten to sever ties, worrying patients? Or would they simply add more burdens to negotiations that usually get settled by the deadline?
Hospitals
Posted inHealth
Behind The Numbers podcast – Episode 3: The changing climate for CT hospitals
Connecticut Mirror Budget Reporter Keith M. Phaneuf discusses hospitals with Mirror Health Care Reporter Arielle Levin Becker.
Posted inHealth
Congress ‘doc fix’ would halt big drop in Medicare fees
WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of Representatives hopes to unveil a proposal this week that would end years of tension and bickering between Congress and the nation’s doctors. A 21 percent cut to fees paid to doctors by Medicare is hanging in the balance.
Posted inHealth
In controversial health care bills, some agreement on transparency
Patients are increasingly being asked to take on a larger share of their health care costs. But for even the most avid bargain-hunters, comparison shopping for medical care can be a challenge, if not impossible. Can legislation change that?
Posted inHealth
Legislators grappling with fast-changing health care landscape
The health care landscape is changing, and legislators are trying to figure out how to respond to an industry that is at once a top employer in many communities and a big driver of health care costs that are straining state, local and business budgets. Hospital officials say some of the proposals so far would take the state backwards.
Posted inHealth
Providers, advocates call Malloy Medicaid cuts short-sighted
Critics say Malloy’s proposal to cut Medicaid is financially short-sighted and threatens to undermine recent progress in a program that has added thousands of new members as part of the federal health law, expanded the network of providers willing to treat them, and reduced its per-client costs.
Posted inHealth
6 health care things to watch for in Malloy’s budget proposal
Many people who work in or advocate for health care and social services are bracing for a tough year, even as some make pitches for increased funding. Here are six things to watch for.
Posted inPolitics
DeLauro tells Obama to end program enticing Cuban doctors to defect
WASHINGTON – Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, doesn’t think President Obama has gone far enough with opening relations with Cuba –and she has told him so. She and 14 other liberal Democrats sent Obama a letter Wednesday urging the end of a Bush-era program that makesit easier for Cuban doctors to defect.
Posted inHealth
Op-Ed: CT hospitals must do more to prevent errors and patient harm
Connecticut hospitals should not be boasting about their efforts to improve patient safety, considering the state ranks last in that area, according to a national report. They should be doing more to prevent medical errors.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
CT hospitals must do more to prevent errors and patient harm
Connecticut hospitals should not be boasting about their efforts to improve patient safety, considering the state ranks last in that area, according to a national report. They should be doing more to prevent medical errors.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Children’s Hospital gets $10M extra from CT, raising eyebrows
A new $10 million grant for the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, approved Thursday – without going through the legislature and despite a state budget deficit – sparked new questions about its legality and fairness.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Waterbury says regulators endanger hospital deals
Waterbury’s mayor and the state’s hospital industry say that Connecticut regulators are jeopardizing plans by a national for-profit hospital chain to buy the city’s two struggling hospitals and others in Bristol, Manchester and Vernon.
Posted inHealth
CDC confirms Yale student does not have Ebola virus
Testing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that the Yale graduate student hospitalized with Ebola-like symptoms does not have the virus, according to a Yale-New Haven Hospital official.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-Ed: Connecticut and the nation need more Hispanic nurses
There is a serious lack of diversity in the health care professions, and more Hispanic nurses would make a significant difference in healthcare quality and costs throughout the nation, including in Connecticut.
Posted inNews
Op-Ed: Connecticut and the nation need more Hispanic nurses
There is a serious lack of diversity in the health care professions, and more Hispanic nurses would make a significant difference in healthcare quality and costs throughout the nation, including in Connecticut.