WALLINGFORD – The Connecticut Hospital Association (CHA) wrote to leaders of the state’s Public Health and Insurance and Real Estate Committees raising significant concerns about the impact on healthcare access and care delivery that would result from the legislative recommendations shared by the Office of Health Strategy with members of the General Assembly.
The recently transmitted Office of Health Strategy (OHS) Healthcare Cost Growth Benchmark and Primary Care Spending Target Recommendations to the General Assembly report is intended to guide lawmakers in healthcare policies ahead of next year’s legislative session. The report includes misguided recommendations made by OHS, some of which the legislature chose not to advance during the last legislative session, which would harm healthcare delivery and patient access, said CHA.
“OHS’s report, its conclusions, and its recommendations uniquely capture both the weaknesses in the agency’s approach to implementing the benchmark and its continued out-of-step approach to building a healthcare delivery system in Connecticut that benefits both patients and the state’s economy,” wrote CHA.
CHA called on lawmakers to continue prioritizing policies that will make healthcare more affordable and accessible for all Connecticut residents, and cautioned that the proposals offered by OHS lack needed improvements to the benchmarking process related to data accuracy and transparency, and would have the unintended consequences of worsening financial burdens across healthcare and reducing patient access.
“Improving affordability, sustaining exceptional patient care and improving access to healthcare services are at the center of our collective work and there is a better way to achieve it. We hope to continue our partnership with the state legislature to take a holistic approach to supporting exceptional care delivery, comprehensively addressing payment for healthcare services, reducing administrative burdens that increase costs, and pursuing innovations, particularly in Medicaid, that support community health,” CHA wrote.
Read the full letter here.