On January 22, 2020, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont issued two health care related executive orders (Executive Order No. 5 and Executive Order No. 6) (the Executive Orders) to address the increasing health care costs in Connecticut. The Executive Orders build upon the state’s Office of Health Strategy’s (OHS) obligation to create a health care cost-containment strategy for Connecticut.
Under the Executive Orders, Governor Lamont directs, among other things, the following:
- OHS to develop by December 2020 annual health care cost growth benchmarks through 2025. Such benchmarks are to set targets for annual increases of primary care spending (as a percentage of total health care expenditures) to reach a target of 10% by 2025;
- OHS to annually report to the Governor health care cost grown across all payers and populations in Connecticut;
- OHS to develop quality benchmarks that will apply to all public and private payors, beginning in 2022;
- The Department of Social Services (DSS) to work with OHS to create by December 2020 a public transparency strategy for reporting Medicaid costs and quality metrics that will allow:
- Comparison of performance over time to Connecticut’s Medicaid program and to other states’ programs;
- Interventions on behalf of Medicaid members;
- Quality improvement; and
- The creation of advisory committees to assist OHS and DSS in completing their respective directives.
Governor Lamont’s Executive Orders may result in significant changes to the reimbursement of health care providers, and the provider community would be well-advised to monitor any developments from OHS, DSS and in the upcoming legislative session.
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