Connecticut is using a $2.85 million federal grant to craft a plan to transform the state’s health care system to better coordinate patient care and coverage, reform payment structures and lower costs, state officers say.
The governor’s office said Friday the new State Health Care Innovation Plan will focus on people enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
It will include input from care providers, insurers, non-profit service providers and a variety of other public and private stakeholders.
Other goals include expanding the number of primary care physicians and other professionals.
Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman chairs the Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange, one of the agencies involved in creating the plan.
“The goal is to design a health care system that integrates a patient’s care among all the various providers in order to improve the patient’s health, which we think will reduce the overall cost of that treatment,” Wyman said in a statement. “This grant will be a great help in our effort to emphasize the value and quality of care a patient receives – not just the volume of care.”
Connecticut was one of 19 states awarded the grant by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that gives states funding to draw up a plan within six months.
The state will then apply for another grant to implement the plan.
