Healthcare Benchmark Initiative

Connecticut doctor

Improving health, reducing costs

The Healthcare Benchmark Initiative plays a key role in improving the health of CT residents. It helps:
  • All residents access affordable, high-quality healthcare
  • Enhance spending on primary care, allowing for creative solutions to address healthcare needs
  • The state lower healthcare spending growth

About the initiative

The Healthcare Benchmark Initiative involves people from across the healthcare landscape to create a healthcare cost growth benchmark. The initiative provides data to legislators and policymakers to improve healthcare quality and spending in Connecticut.

These efforts focus on:
  • Setting annual healthcare cost growth targets for 2021-2025
  • Increasing primary care spending as a percentage of total healthcare expenditure, with a goal of of 10% by 2025
  • Providing healthcare quality benchmarks for all public and private payers
  • Reporting healthcare spending growth
  • Monitoring care organizations and different payment models

Program resources

Public hearing agendas are posted at least 24 hours prior to the hearing. Transcripts and recordings are posted within seven days of the hearing.

Cost growth benchmark public hearings 

Attend these meetings to learn about projects and to share your views as permitted.

Quality benchmarks public hearings 

Learn about upcoming meetings and watch past presentations.

Data Transparency 

Discover the data behind the policy solutions to the state's healthcare challenges.

HCBI Quality Benchmarks 

Explore clinical quality, patient safety, consumer experience, and over-and under-utilization measures.

Reports and updates 

Read Healthcare Benchmark Initiative reports and findings.

Submit comments 

Email your thoughts about any scheduled or recent hearing topic. They can become part of the public record.
icon

Legislation

Governor Lamont signed Executive Order #5 in January, 2020, charging the Office of Health Strategy (OHS) to benchmark total healthcare expenditures growth in the state. During the 2022 legislative session, C.G.S. §217-223 of Public Act 22-118 essentially codified Executive Order No. 5’s provision into law. OHS carried out the initiative with the support of a Technical Team as the key deliberating body and a Stakeholder Advisory Board.

Healthcare Benchmark Initiative reports

Healthcare Benchmark Initiative Leadership

Steering committee 

The Healthcare Benchmark Initiative Steering Committee includes senior stakeholders, subject matter experts, state agency executives, and consumer advocates who advise on healthcare cost growth, quality and primary care spending.

Quality Council 

The Quality Council includes local and regional stakeholders who provide guidance on a core set of clinical quality, patient safety, consumer experience and over- and under-utilization benchmarks and measures.

Technical Team 

The Technical Team is comprised of a team of experts in healthcare economics, health policy and related fields who work collaboratively to set healthcare cost growth and primary care spending benchmarks for the next five years, 2026-2030.

 

Cost growth benchmark values

Cost Growth Benchmark Values

The technical team recommended that the cost growth benchmark use a 20/80 weighting of the growth in CT potential gross state product and the growth of CT median income. The resulting value of the benchmark was 2.9%. The 2024 target was adjusted to 4.0% due to the impact of inflation. The 2025 target will remain at 2.9%. Each year the Commissioner evaluates the impact of inflation to determine if a change to the benchmark target is warranted.

Primary care spending target

Primary Care Target Spends
Connecticut targets increasing primary care spending as a percentage of total health care expenditure to 10% by 2025.

2022-2025 Quality benchmark measures