Gov. Ned Lamont announced that his administration reached an agreement with the Connecticut Hospital Association on health-related legislative policies designed to reduce health care costs and improve the quality of care.
According to a statement from the governor”™s office, the provisions of the agreement include:
Ӣ Enhancing competition by banning contracting practices that make it harder for insurers and consumers to learn about and access the highest quality, lowest cost providers and injecting transparency for providers into insurer contracting practices;
Ӣ Extending existing law prohibiting facility fees for certain evaluation and screening services to hospital main campuses;
Ӣ Providing information publicly on how savings derived from a federal prescription drug pricing program (340B) helps support healthcare services for low-income residents;
Ӣ Enhancing current regulatory and enforcement authority to better ensure lower cost, high quality, equity and accessibility for ConnecticutӪs residents through a streamlined and timely certificate of need process;
Ӣ Committing to develop a strategy to improve healthcare outcomes, community health, and health equity to support HUSKY Health members by identifying barriers and influences that impact health and healthcare outcomes and identifying improvements in how HUSKY pays for services;
Ӣ Studying how Medicare Advantage plans operate in the state and the impact on healthcare costs. The study will include reviewing how MA administrative processes affect access to and the delivery of care to patients and payments to healthcare providers;
Ӣ Joining a multi-state consortium to buy discounted drugs and allow any resident of Connecticut to use the discount card;
Ӣ Making sure consumers and prescribers know when drug prices are going up by publishing a list of large drug price increases every year; and
Ӣ Requiring drug marketers to register with the state and make sur they are providing clear, accurate, and transparent information about the drugs they are marketing.
“The quality of Connecticut”™s health care system is among the best, however rising costs make accessing health coverage a barrier for far too many people, and that is why our administration is focused on addressing the policies and cost drivers that factor into these prices,” said Lamont. “This is a complex issue that needs to be tackled from multiple angles and we need the involvement of all parties ”“ insurers, hospitals, doctors, employers, and consumers ”“ in this effort to provide real solutions to lower health care costs. I value the willingness of the Connecticut Hospital Association to sit down with our administration and work on these issues together.”
“We value the partnership we have developed with Gov. Lamont and his team, and today”™s agreement is the product of a mutual interest in sustaining and improving a world-class healthcare system here in Connecticut,” Jennifer Jackson, CEO of the Connecticut Hospital Association, said. “The agreement recognizes the value that Connecticut”™s hospitals and health systems provide every day, the financial challenges they are currently experiencing, and the sustained march toward lowering cost, improving community health and health equity, and eliminating administrative barriers that diminish care and add cost to our system.”
