Hospitals in Connecticut charge vastly different amounts of money for the same procedure – sometimes triple the price — according to data released Wednesday by federal Medicare officials. Continue Reading →
I-Team In-Depth
Recent stories
Connecticut Lags In Kids’ Mental Health Screening; Reforms Considered
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Selenia Velez remembers the near-daily phone calls from the pre-school, alerting her that her 2-year-old son had acted out aggressively and needed to be picked up immediately. The calls went on for months, as Velez, 27, of Hartford, and her husband bounced between the pre-school and their son’s pediatrician, who recommended that they take him to a psychiatrist for an evaluation. But the psychiatrist was booked and held them at bay, as Velez watched her son’s behavior deteriorate. “We just felt hopeless,” the mother of four recalls of her oldest son, now 7. “It was one of the most heartbreaking things you can go through as a mother. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Disparities, I-Team In-Depth, American Academy of Pediatrics, Barbara Ward-Zimmerman, behavioral health screening, Center for Children's Advocacy, Child Health and Development Institute, Connecticut Department of Social Services
Seniors Sue Medicare To Close Nursing Home Coverage Gap
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Roberta Baxter, a 78-year-old retired instructional assistant for the Killingly school system, dislocated her kneecap after a fall in her bathroom last September. Following treatment at a local hospital, she spent seven weeks at a nursing home for rehab so that she could walk again. While she was recovering, she and her husband Bill received the first of several bills from the nursing home. That’s when the couple learned Medicare wouldn’t cover the $16,000 cost because Roberta didn’t spend at least three consecutive days in the hospital as admitted patient, or inpatient, as Medicare requires. Instead, the four days she spent in the hospital was for “observation care.”
“I thought it was surely a mistake,” she said. “Nobody ever said I wasn’t admitted.”
Filed under: I-Team In-Depth, 'observation care' Judith Stein, Center for Medicare Advocacy, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal lawsuit, Lee Barrows, Mary T. Berthelot, Medicare
Unhealthy Mercury Levels Persist In Our Waterways And Fish
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Wethersfield resident Patrice Gilbert knew that compact fluorescent bulbs contained mercury, so as they burned out, she put them aside until she could find out where to properly dispose of them. One day, she accidently knocked one off the counter and it broke. “I scooped that broken one up, put the other three in a paper bag, put that in a plastic bag and put it in my recycling bin,” she said. “I didn’t know what to do with them.”
Gilbert’s action is typical. Nationally, only an estimated 2 percent of household CFLs are recycled properly, the Association of Lighting and Mercury Recyclers says. In Connecticut, only 4 percent of households participate in hazardous waste collection days – where mercury-containing CFLs, thermostats and thermometers should be recycled. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Environmental Health, I-Team In-Depth, Amos Lake, Association of Lighting and Mercury Recyclers, Bashan Lake, Beach Pond, Dr. Mark Mitchell, Environmental Health Task Force
Hospitals Mobilize To Tackle Alarm Fatigue
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At Bridgeport Hospital, “talking bed rails” programmed to speak to patients in the geriatric psychiatric unit are helping to reduce the number of alarms that sound when a patient at risk for falling tries to get out of bed. At the Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain, health care professionals are adopting techniques from aviation safety experts to reduce the chances of a catastrophic event happening before a clinical alarm goes off. These are among the many ways Connecticut hospitals are tackling a phenomenon known industry-wide as alarm fatigue. Continue Reading →
Filed under: I-Team In-Depth, alarm fatigue, Bridgeport Hospital, Connecticut Center for Patient Safety, Connecticut Hospital Association, Dr. Mary Cooper, Dr. Ryan O'Connell, Dr. Steven D. Hanks
Whistleblower: VA Withheld Health Studies On Soldiers’ Toxic Exposures
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The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs suppressed information that shows links between health problems of veterans and the dangers they were exposed to in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Gulf War, according to a whistleblower who testified to a House panel Wednesday afternoon. Steven Coughlin described an “epidemic of serious ethical problems” in the VA Office of Public Health, where he worked for 4 ½ years as a senior epidemiologist until December. Continue Reading →
Filed under: I-Team In-Depth, "burn pits", Afghanistan, American College of Epidemiology, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Veterans Affairs, Gulf War, Iraq
Study Finds Big Geographic Swings In Psychotropic Drug Use
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In Alexandria, Va., the rate of antidepressant use is the highest in the country, with a full 40 percent of residents receiving prescriptions. Cape Cod, Mass., tops the country in the use of stimulants, with 16 percent of the population filling at least one prescription, compared to a mean of 2.6 percent nationally. Gainsville, Fla., has the highest utilization rate of antipsychotics – 4.6 percent of residents, well above the national mean of .8 percent. Usage rates of the three classes of mental health medications vary widely across the U.S., with Connecticut in the middle, according to a new study by the Yale School of Management. Continue Reading →
Filed under: I-Team In-Depth, Alexandria Va., Bridgeport, Cape Cod, Connor Essick, Gainsville Fla., Hartford, Marissa King
High Use Of Antipsychotics In Nursing Homes Stirs Concerns, Reforms
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The Westside Care Center in Manchester is ranked among the best nursing homes in Connecticut, receiving a ‘five-star’ rating for overall quality under a federal rating system. At the same time, Westside has the state’s highest percentage of residents who receive antipsychotic drugs, even though they do not have a psychosis or related condition that regulators say warrants their use. Federal data shows 68 percent of Westside long-stay residents were receiving the drugs – more than double the state’s average of 26 percent, which already ranks in the top-third of states nationally. A C-HIT review of federal nursing home data from December found that Westside is not alone: High antipsychotic use, considered dangerous and unnecessary in many cases, does not impact quality ratings of nursing homes, and is often unknown to consumers selecting a home. In three-dozen Connecticut homes, at least a third of long-stay residents are on antipsychotics – yet nearly half of those homes have excellent overall ratings, of 4 to 5 stars. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Fines & Sanctions, I-Team In-Depth, Ann Spenard, antipsychotic drugs, Avalon Health Care Center, Center for Medicare Advocacy, Centers For Medicare and Medicare Services, Connecticut Department of Health
State Hospitals Face 2nd Highest Rate Of Federal Penalties Nationwide
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Connecticut fared second-worst in the country in the percentage of hospitals hit with federal penalties for selected quality-of-care measures and in the overall rate of loss of Medicare reimbursements associated with those penalties, new federal data shows. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Fines & Sanctions, I-Team In-Depth, Affordable Care Act, Brigeport Hospital, Connecticut Hospital Association, Danbury Hospital, Dr. Jesse Wagner, Dr. Mary Reich Cooper
Surgical Errors Climb, Bed Sores Decline In State’s Hospitals
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Reports of wrong-site surgeries increased 62 percent in the past year in Connecticut hospitals, while the number of patient deaths or disabilities resulting from surgery or falls also rose, a new state report shows. At the same time, reports of patients suffering from serious pressure ulcers declined, as a number of hospitals made progress in preventing the painful bed sores. Continue Reading →