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CT nabs $45M healthcare innovation grant

The federal government has awarded $45 million to Connecticut to experiment with how it delivers Medicare and Medicaid services to state residents.

The so-called State Innovation Model (SIM) grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services stems from the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. A total of 34 states are receiving the grants, totaling $665 million, HHS announced Tuesday.

The grants spur states to design and test programs that improve healthcare quality, affordability and accessibility.

“This grant will improve coordinated care, shift the focus onto personal healthcare goals, and make the quality and cost of treatment more transparent,” Dr. Tom Raskauskas, Healthcare Innovation Steering Committee member and CEO of St. Vincent’s Health Partners, said in a statement.

Connecticut’s $45 million comes on top of a previous award last year of $2.8 million, which officials used to develop a state healthcare innovation plan. (View PDF file)

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The plans lays out a vision for using value-based payments, IT, workforce development and performance transparency to achieve those goals.

The plan has drawn its critics. The Connecticut Health Policy Project said the plan risks future deficits and represents a return to incentives to deny needed care.

HHS says the initiatives its SIM program has spawned, such as accountable care organizations, reduced Medicare’s hospital readmissions by 150,000 between 2007 and 2013.

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