With the potential for major changes in federal health care policy looming, hospital leaders are watching closely, worried especially that cuts to Medicaid could bring a big financial hit and that a repeal of Obamacare could raise the number of uninsured Connecticut residents.
Hospitals
Posted inHealth
A lot at stake for Connecticut as Trump, GOP eye Medicaid changes
Medicaid is Connecticut’s largest source of federal funding and the largest single line item in the state budget. It covers close to one in five state residents – more than 750,000 poor children, adults and people with disabilities. A major change in federal Medicaid funding is a big worry for the state’s budget director.
Posted inHealth
Many emergency room patients could face ‘surprise bills’
Patients can face significantly higher bills if they receive care from doctors who don’t take their insurance, and a study suggests that could happen in nearly one in four ER visits.
Posted inHealth, Money
Same data, opposite conclusions: Did Medicaid cuts limit access to radiology?
When the state cut Medicaid payment rates for radiologists by 42.5 percent last year, doctors and patient advocates warned it would get harder for poor patients to get mammograms and other imaging services. A year and a half later, the state Medicaid agency says that hasn’t happened. But radiologists say it’s not that simple.
Posted inHealth
Panel endorses strategies to curb health costs, redesign care system
The recommendations are aimed at curbing health care costs, but some members of the state’s Health Care Cabinet wondered if they will be too expensive. Another key recommendation faces opposition from one of the agencies that would be charged with implementing it.
Posted inHealth, Money
Hospitals ask feds to declare CT Medicaid rates, hospital tax illegal
Citing a host of job and program cuts and funding levels that threaten hospital viability and patients’ access to care, Connecticut hospitals have asked the federal government to declare that the state is violating federal law by paying inadequate rates for treating Medicaid patients and imposing a $556 million tax on the industry.
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Study asks: Do doctors’ political views influence care?
A new study by Yale researchers suggests Republican and Democrat doctors have different views on the seriousness of politically charged issues such as marijuana use, abortion or having a gun at home – and might handle them differently with patients.
Posted inHealth
CT hospital finances weakened in 2015
The average margin of Connecticut hospitals dropped during the 2015 fiscal year, and fewer hospitals turned a profit. Even so, the majority of hospitals in the state remained profitable, and the cost of uncompensated care fell by 15.6 percent.
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State rejects challenge to the hospital tax
Two state agency heads have ruled against Connecticut hospitals’ claims that the state tax on hospitals is illegal, clearing the way for the industry to take the state to court.
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Charlotte Hungerford, Hartford HealthCare say they will partner
After more than five months of negotiation, Charlotte Hungerford Hospital and Hartford HealthCare announced they will seek state and federal approval to make the Torrington-based hospital the sixth in the Hartford HealthCare network. But regulatory hurdles could keep the deal from being approved for months.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Justice Dept. sues to block Aetna-Humana, Anthem-Cigna mergers
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department filed lawsuits Thursday to block both proposed mergers between Aetna and Humana and Anthem and Cigna. The insurers said they would fight the suits.
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Introducing The Mirror’s Hospitals Database
On average, 78 percent of hospital beds in the state were filled during the 2014 fiscal year, and patients stayed an average of five days. Connecticut’s acute care hospitals earned an average margin of 6.22 percent that year. But averages don’t tell the full story about hospitals in Connecticut. This database is aimed at helping you dig deeper.
Posted inEducation, Health, Justice, Money, Politics, Transportation
Nonpartisan analysts: Tentative CT budget wipes away lots of red ink
The tentative plan to close a $1 billion hole in Connecticut’s finances starting July 1 also would wipe away more than 40 percent of the red ink threatening state government after the November elections, nonpartisan fiscal analysts reported Tuesday evening.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Revised physician non-compete bill wins final passage
The proposal grew out of work by the Senate’s top Democrat and Republican to address the changing health care landscape, including the trend toward doctors giving up owning their own practices to work for hospital systems or large group practices.
Posted inEducation, Health, Money, Politics
Down to the wire on chances for a regular-session CT budget
Updated at 10:30 p.m.
Chances of a state budget deal before the legislative session ends Wednesday could hinge on whether negotiations – sparked by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s new budget proposal – bear fruit overnight Monday into Tuesday.