Hartford Business Journal

30 Hartford Business Journal • October 5, 2020 • www.HartfordBusiness.com 2020 POWER 25 — HEALTH CARE ness in Connecticut alone. Farmington-based ConnectiCare, led by President Eric Galvin since 2017, does. ConnectiCare, a subsidiary of New York-based EmblemHealth, has been a stal- wart presence in the state-run Access Health CT Obamacare insurance exchange, when giants like Aetna, Cigna and UnitedHealth- Care have ignored the marketplace. Galvin, who was formerly chief financial officer, succeeded seven- year chief executive Eric Wise in 2017, taking the top spot at the Scott Swamp Road headquarters a year after ConnectiCare informed rating agency A.M. Best that it expected to lose over $55 million. Since Galvin's appointment as president, ConnectiCare has tight- ened its bond with the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA), bringing a form of self- insured health policy known as a "level-funded" plan to the state's larg- est business lobby, which has seen its health insurance perks diminish in recent years as a membership driver. Linda Grigerek Nursing homes and assisted living facilities aren't the only businesses that have benefited from Connecticut's ag- ing population. When it comes to relatively simple assistance with non-medical tasks like getting dressed or doing the dishes, or basic companion- ship, homecare agencies have in- creasingly filled a need, empowered by insurers and other health payers increasingly recognizing the savings the model can provide compared to institutional settings. There are more than 500 licensed homecare businesses in the state, employing an estimated 28,000 people, but positioned at the top is Farmington-based Companions & Homemakers, led by President Linda Grigerek. C&H, which has 10 locations around Connecticut, has been in operation for 30 years, and is a major service provider for the state's Medic- aid program, as well as other clients. Grigerek has not been afraid to wield her clout when she feels the situation calls for it. For example, in 2017, C&H refused, citing privacy concerns, when the De- partment of Social Services, overseer of Medicaid, demanded homecare agencies begin using a visit tracking system. When DSS canceled C&H's contract (ultimately temporarily), Grigerek sued several dozen of her own workers for violating their non- compete contracts because they had become employed by other agencies while keeping their former clients. The legislature has since cracked down on non-competes for the homecare industry. Martin Looney, Sean Scanlon and Matt Lesser Call these three Democratic lawmakers the core of Connecticut's healthcare-reform caucus, though there's techni- cally no such thing. Sen. Martin Looney and Reps. Matt Lesser and Sean Scanlon stood together in early 2019, supporting the creation of a public- option health plan that would allow small businesses to buy into a state health plan in order to save money. A few months later, the bill was dead, as Gov. Ned Lamont pulled his support amid fierce insurer op- position. Not being able to get a bill over the finish line is common, particularly one that would cost powerful inter- ests, but the three politicians have pursued plenty of other reforms. Looney, who has been in the Senate since 1993, has collaborated across the aisle over the years with GOP Sen. Len Fasano on numerous re- forms, including a crackdown on out-of-network surprise billing and increased scrutiny of hospi- tals buying up doctor groups. Lesser and Scanlon, elected in 2008 and 2015, respectively, co- chair the Insurance and Real Estate Committee, where they've sought to crack down on skyrocketing pre- miums charged by long-term care insurers. This year, they backed a bill that would place low monthly price caps on insulin for diabetic patients. Charles Lee At The Jackson Laboratory in Farmington, Charles Lee oversees the work of more than 300 scien- tists drawing millions of dollars in annual federal funding for their genomics research. Lee's role is key to the success of Jax's 2014 expansion into Connecti- cut, which includes a promise to invest $1 billion over a 20- year period. Jax is also a centerpiece to Connecti- cut's broader bioscience industry, which has seen job losses in recent years. Jax has recently begun focusing on finding commercial applications for its research, which could mean revenue in the years to come. It has also gotten involved in COVID-19 research and has worked with Yale to broaden the use of a coronavirus saliva test. Lee previously directed a molecu- lar genetic research unit at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Massachu- setts and a cytogenetics facility for Harvard University. In 2014, oddsmakers included Lee on a short list of Nobel Prize favorites for his 2004 discovery of widespread structural variation in the human genome and its associa- tion with specific diseases. Ellen Andrews In the insider world of state healthcare policy, where obscure committees help direct new pay- ment models or evaluate hope- lessly complex topics to help guide lawmakers, it can be tough to find someone who doesn't have some kind of financial interest in the mat- ter at hand. Ellen Andrews has long been an exception to that rule. As the executive director of the nonprofit Con- necticut Health Policy Project, which is focused on improving health care for all residents, Andrews has been unafraid to be a thorn in the sides of state and industry of- ficials alike when she senses that regular consumers, particularly low-income Medicaid patients, are getting short shrift. A mix of journalist, advo- cate, and subject-matter expert, with a human genetics doctorate from Yale to boot, Andrews pays attention where the ever-shrinking local media often doesn't even know to look. The Health Policy Project's email blasts, as well as Andrews op-eds for CTNewsJunkie.com, alert readers to problems with Connecti- cut health care they may never have known about. A $45-million, multi-year grant from the federal government for healthcare innovation? Andrews wrote that Connecticut mostly wasted it, and she accused industry stakeholders of being more con- cerned with getting a piece of the pie than with working together. An ongoing effort to establish a healthcare cost benchmark has been another recent target for Andrews, who has detailed concerns that cost reductions could be deliberately targeted toward low-margin or money-losing essential services like psychiatric or primary care. 21 24 25 22 23 Eric Galvin, President, ConnectiCare Linda Grigerek, President, Companions & Homemakers Charles Lee, Scientific Director, The Jackson Laboratory Ellen Andrews, Executive Director, Connecticut Health Policy Project Sen. Martin Looney Rep. Matt Lesser Rep. Sean Scanlon

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