A number of states have made efforts to contain healthcare costs, and now Connecticut is looking at how it might embrace a model similar to those states, according to a report from The Connecticut Mirror.
Here are five things to know about the issue.
1. A Connecticut law calls for the state's healthcare cabinet to study healthcare cost containment models in other states, including, but not limited to, Massachusetts, Maryland, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Vermont, to identify successful practices and programs Connecticut could implement to:
- Monitor and control healthcare costs
- Enhance competition in the healthcare market
- Promote the use of high-quality healthcare providers with low total medical expenses and prices
- Improve healthcare cost and quality transparency
- Increase cost-effectiveness in the healthcare market
- Improve the quality of care and health outcomes
2. The state has hired Needham, Mass.-based consulting firm Bailit Health Purchasing to assess if Connecticut could implement a model similar to other states to contain healthcare costs, and look at other questions, according to The Connecticut Mirror.
3. The contract states Bailit Health Purchasing which will be paid up to $363,445, according to the report. Four foundations — the Connecticut Health Foundation, the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, The Donaghue Foundation and the Foundation for Community Health — will fund $190,000 of that, while the state will fund the rest, according to the report.
4. Consultants expect to present options in June and have final recommendations in November.
5. Connecticut is not the first state to look for ways to control healthcare costs. For instance, Massachusetts created a health policy commission that sets a cap for annual healthcare cost increases and reports which providers go over the cap, according to The Connecticut Mirror. In Rhode Island, the state's governor initiated an effort to develop a healthcare spending cap for the state, and Maryland sets rates for hospitals and gives them a set budget.
More articles on healthcare finance:
5 latest CFO moves in hospitals, health systems
For-profit hospital stock report: Week of Jan. 4-8
Meridian Health signs Patientco for RCM service