Opinion: Proposal to cut health neighborhoods misguided

Ellen Andrews is executive director of the Connecticut Health Policy Project, Sheila Amdur is the co-chair of the Medical Assistance Program Oversight Council Complex Care Committee and Matthew Katz, is CEO of the Connecticut State Medical Society

Among the very large cuts in the governor’s budget proposal is a small cut to a shovel-ready program, almost three years in development, to coordinate care for Connecticut’s most fragile and costly residents.

The program has great, long-term potential to improve the quality of care for people, reward providers for improving health, and control costs for the state. The idea is a pilot program to build health neighborhoods, networks of providers who would become responsible to improve health and experience of care while controlling costs, for people eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid (MMEs).

The governor’s budget acknowledges that “the proposal could generate long-term savings by promoting practice transformation, facilitating person-centered team-based care, and creating a payment structure that aligns financial incentives to promote value,” however, “funding is removed given the state’s current fiscal situation.”

See the complete story at CT News Junkie.