Connecticut State Office of Health Strategy

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Press Releases

Office of Health Strategy

02/24/2020

OHS Announces Healthcare Cost Growth Benchmark Technical Team and Stakeholder Board

OFFICE OF HEALTH STRATEGY ANNOUNCES HEALTHCARE COST GROWTH BENCHMARK TECHNICAL TEAM AND STAKEHOLDER BOARD

 

(HARTFORD, CT) – Today, the Office of Health Strategy (OHS) announced the members of the Cost Growth Benchmark Technical Team and the Cost Growth Benchmark Stakeholder Advisory Board, two groups formed to establish Connecticut’s first healthcare cost growth bench as outlined by Governor Ned Lamont’s Executive Order No. 5. The order directs OHS to establish statewide healthcare cost growth and quality benchmarks and a primary care spending target.

The OHS Cost Growth Benchmark Technical Team includes experts who will directly engage with OHS and consulting experts on the creation of the annual healthcare cost growth benchmarks and primary care spending targets. It will get input from the Cost Growth Benchmark Stakeholder Advisory Board. The Advisory Board will ensure that additional stakeholders from across the healthcare landscape, from consumers to providers, employers and the healthcare industry have input and feedback into the discussion. Both groups will convene in the next month to begin discussion on their charters and governing bylaws. 

OHS Executive Director Vicki Veltri said, “The healthcare cost growth benchmark and the setting of primary care targets are important to improving the affordability of healthcare. In Massachusetts, establishing a healthcare benchmark saved consumers and the state about $5.5 billion in its rate of growth of expenditures over five years—this is policy that works. The groups we’ve convened are a strong balance of technical expertise and consumer/stakeholder engagement and I thank the members for volunteering their time and talent to this work.”

 

Cost Growth Benchmark Technical Team

Melissa McCaw, MPA, Secretary, State of Connecticut Office of Policy and Management

Deidre Gifford, MD, MPH, Commissioner, Department of Social Services

Paul Lombardo, A.S.A., M.A.A.A., Director, Life & Health Division, Connecticut Insurance Department

Rae-Ellen Roy, Assistant Director of Health Policy and Benefits Division, Office of the State Comptroller

Rebecca Andrews, M.D., FACP, American College of Physicians Connecticut Chapter Governor

Patricia Baker, President and CEO, CT Health Foundation

Zack Cooper, PhD, MSc, Associate Professor of Public Health and Economics, Yale University

Paul Grady, Connecticut Business Group on Health

Angela Harris, Chair of Phillips Health Ministry, Phillips Metropolitan CME Church

Luis Pérez, LCSW, President and CEO, Mental Health Connecticut, Inc.

 

Cost Growth Benchmark Stakeholder Advisory Board

Reginald Eadie M.D., M.B.A., President, Chief Executive Officer, Trinity Health of New England

Kathleen Silard, R.N., President and CEO, Stamford Health

Janice Henry, Executive Director, Provider Solutions, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of CT

Robert Kosior, Senior Vice President and COO, ConnectiCare

Richard Searles, Managing Director, Merritt Healthcare Solutions

Ken Lalime, CEO, Community Health Center Association of Connecticut

Margaret Flinter, PhD, APRN, Senior Vice President and Clinical Director, Community Health Center, Inc.

Karen Gee, Senior Vice President and COO, OptumCare Network of Connecticut

Marie Smith, PharmD, FNAP, UConn School of Pharmacy

Tekisha Everette, PhD., Executive Director, Health Equity Solutions

Pareesa Charmchi Goodwin, Executive Director, Connecticut Oral Health Initiative

Howard Forman, MD, MBA, FACR, Professor of Diagnostic Radiology, Public Health, Management, and Economics, Yale University

Nancy Yedlin, MPH, Vice President, Donaghue Foundation

Fiona Mohring, MPH, SPHR, Director, Health & Group Benefits, Stanley Black & Decker

Lori Pasqualini, Chief Financial & Administrative Officer, Ability Beyond

Sal Luciano, President, Connecticut AFL-CIO

Kathy Flaherty, JD, Executive Director, Connecticut Legal Rights Project

Hector Glynn, MSW, COO, The Village for Families and Children

Rick Melita, Director, Service Employees International Union Connecticut State Council

 

Governor Lamont’s Executive Order No. 5 directs OHS to:

  1. Develop annual healthcare cost growth benchmarks by December 2020 for calendar years 2021-2025;
  2. Set targets for increased primary care spending as a percentage of total healthcare spending to reach 10 percent by 2025;
  3. Develop quality benchmarks across all public and private payers beginning in 2022, including clinical quality measures, over/under utilization measures, and patient safety measures;
  4. Monitor and report annually on healthcare spending growth across public and private payers;
  5. Monitor accountable care organizations and the adoption of alternative payment models.

OHS is the state agency responsible under state statutes for developing and implementing a comprehensive and cohesive healthcare vision for the state, including a statewide cost containment strategy.

 

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OHS interim press contact: Laurence Grotheer (860-418-7010)