Two weeks after legislators passed a budget that hospital officials called devastating, Hartford HealthCare, the parent company of five hospitals, announced plans to eliminate approximately 335 positions.
Hospitals
Posted inEducation, Health, Money, Politics
House adopts controversial state budget
Connecticut’s long-running budget drama began drawing to a close early Wednesday as the House of Representatives adopted a $40.3 billion, two-year package that largely restores deep cuts to social services and expands municipal aid while bolstering tax revenues by almost $2 billion.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Budget would cut health, social services, but less than gov’s plan
Updated at 6:40 a.m.
The budget deal between legislative leaders and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration calls for millions of dollars in cuts to programs that serve seniors, poor families, and people with developmental disabilities and mental illnesses. But compared to the deep reductions Malloy proposed in February, many of the cuts are relatively modest.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Cheat sheet: What’s in the big health care bill
The state Senate passed a wide-ranging health care bill Monday that could have significant implications for hospitals, insurance companies, doctors and patients. Here’s what it would do.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Revised health care bill passes House, despite hospital opposition
Many individual provisions of the 87-page proposal could have been controversial bills on their own; together, they represent a set of changes that could have significant ripples through major industries undergoing rapid change.
Posted inHealth, Politics
House nearing deal on massive health care bill
Legislators are closing in on a final version of a massive, heavily lobbied health care proposal that could have significant implications for hospitals, doctors, insurers and patients.
Posted inMoney, Politics
House approves bill to restrict tax exemption for colleges, hospitals
The House of Representatives approved a measure early Friday that would end a portion of the municipal tax exemption long possessed by private, nonprofit colleges and hospitals.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Senate passes major health care bill, but fate in House uncertain
The state Senate Thursday night passed an expansive bill aimed at influencing the state’s fast-changing health care landscape, a measure driven largely by the Senate leaders’ concerns about large hospital systems gaining too much market power and driving up costs. But a key House Democrat said that’s unlikely to be the final version.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Can the state build a better system to get your medical records to your doctors?
Chances are, if you’re a patient in Connecticut, your doctor enters your medical information into a laptop or tablet and sends your prescriptions to the pharmacy electronically. But if you end up in an emergency room, there’s a good chance your records will have to get there the old-fashioned way: by fax. Legislators are trying to change that, but not everyone agrees on what the state needs.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Can Connecticut afford to lose more homecare mental health nurses?
A dear friend of mine who grew up in a severely dysfunctional home once said to me, “You never know what goes on in someone’s home.” I think of that often because, as visiting nurses, we do know what goes on. We bear witness to it, into that intimate bubble of a patient’s home and that of their family, a place where we can interject hope, recovery and a better life. Can society afford to lose such a valuable resource?
Posted inHealth
Waterbury Hospital has new plans to be purchased, turn for-profit
Waterbury Hospital has plans to be acquired by a private Los Angeles-based health care company, the latest move in the hospital’s quest for long-term stability.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Will lawmakers take action on changing health care landscape?
Senate leaders are pushing forward with a package of controversial proposals aimed at increasing transparency in health care costs and quality, and giving the state more levers to address the growth of large health systems that control multiple hospitals and physician practices. But it’s still unclear exactly what shape it will take — or how much support it will have in the House.
Posted inMoney, Politics
A shorthand breakdown of the new state tax proposal
It’s easy to get lost in the numbers of the new revenue plan a legislative panel recommended Wednesday for the next two-year state budget. For those keeping score at home, here’s a rundown of the major points of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee’s plan.
Posted inMoney
Defying Malloy, legislators pitch a $1.8 billion revenue increase
A key legislative panel broke Wednesday with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy by recommending a plan that bolsters state tax and fee receipts by more than $1.8 billion over the next two fiscal years, including more than $540 million in new income taxes on the wealthy and an overhaul of the sales tax.
Posted inMoney
Tax plan would boost revenues by $1.8 billion over two years
Members of a key legislative panel will be asked Wednesday to approve a plan that bolsters tax receipts by almost $1.8 billion in the next two year budget, including $540 million in new income taxes on the wealthy and an overhaul of the sales tax.