Connecticut AHEAD

The AHEAD Model is an initiative from the federal government that helps states redesign how health care is delivered and paid for.  It shifts the focus from treating illness to preventing it by giving doctors, hospitals and community organizations incentives to collaborate to improve health outcomes.  Over time, this aims to stabilize health care spending and close gaps in care across communities.

The Department of Social Services is leading Connecticut AHEAD (CT AHEAD)

AHEAD is a total cost of care model. That means the state and federal government are working together to consider all of the components that are driving healthcare costs and making healthcare unaffordable.  To improve affordability, quality, and access Connecticut AHEAD aims to bring together healthcare providers, payers, and community organizations to work together to achieve common goals.  Let's break it down into the basic concepts: 

• Total Cost of Care: The state and federal government will work together to set an achievable target to slow the overall growth in the costs of healthcare in Connecticut.

• Hospital Global Budgets: Currently if a hospital does a good job at keeping people healthy and out of the hospital, they get less revenue because they bill insurance when people get sick and use hospital services. A hospital global budget provides an upfront payment that enables the hospital to support people to stay healthy and out of the hospital. Hospitals do better when patients do better. A hospital global budget also provides a stable, predictable source of revenue for a hospital so they can plan their expenses and that can help with hospital finances. Hospital global budgets feature safeguards and adjustments for social risk, quality and other factors and promote a focus on care coordination and outcomes. Hospital participation in global budgets is entirely voluntary.

• Primary Care AHEAD:  Primary Care AHEAD provides primary care practices with additional upfront payments intended to increase their capacity to deliver advanced primary care services such as care coordination, behavioral health integration, and whole person care.

• Population Health Accountability Plan:  Connecticut will develop a statewide Population Health Accountability Plan to help prioritize key health measures and work out strategies for improving population health by focusing on preventive care and chronic disease prevention..

• Geo AHEAD:  Geo AHEAD helps connect people on Original Medicare who aren’t already linked to a specific doctor or care program. It provides them a way to get coordinated & value‑based care, and makes sure hospitals and primary care providers work together to manage overall healthcare costs and improve patient outcomes.