The federal government awarded the state with a $1 million federal grant Thursday to help it coordinate care for some of its neediest residents eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare.
The received the grant to help it create and integrated care organization for the so-called ‘dual eligible’ population which now consumes the highest amount of taxpayer health care dollars.
“I am pleased and grateful that the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has recognized the quality of Connecticut’s proposal to provide better care to tens of thousands of our most frail and chronically ill citizens, while easing costs to taxpayers,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said in a release.
“Interested legislators, providers and the advocacy community made an enormous contribution to the design of this new service model, which has great potential to improve the quality of care and, with it, health outcomes for about 120,000 low-income enrollees of Medicaid and Medicare,” Dr. Mark Schaefer, director of medical care for the Department of Social Services, said. “ICOs will be a focus of local care coordination for all providers who touch the lives of our clients, ranging from the primary care physician to the specialist, hospital or skilled nursing facility.”
The grant was also appreciated by health care advocates such as New Haven Legal Aid.
“We are also pleased the final grant proposal did not require the imposition of financial risk on providers—imposing financial risk on providers encourages them to save money by restricting needed access to care rather than proactively coordinating care to avoid expensive ER visits, medical complications or other problems,” Sheldon Toubman of New Haven Legal Aid said.
