Hartford Business Journal

G R E AT E R H A R T F O R D ' S B U S I N E S S N E W S w w w. H a r t f o rd B u s i n e s s . c o m For more B2B news visit OCTOBER 17, 2016 Volume 24, Number 46 $3.00 Subscribe online Join us in Honoring the winners! December 1, 2016 | CT Convention Center Index ■ Week in Review: PG. 6 ■ The List: PG. 10 ■ Deal Watch: PG. 12 ■ Movers & Shakers: PG. 16 ■ Nonprofit Notebook: PG. 18 ■ Opinion & Commentary: PG. 20 FOCUS: TRANSPORTATION/ CONSTRUCTION Traffic Jam The state is taking steps to alleviate one of the nation's worst congestion problems, with hopes of reducing the number of drivers who commute to work by themselves. PG. 8 Clearing Battlefields Barkhamsted-based Tru-Hitch Inc. since the 1990s has racked up at least a dozen Pentagon contracts manufacturing lifting-towing technology that helps U.S. soldiers clear foreign battlefields of destroyed or disabled Army troop and equipment carriers, and other rolling stock. PG. 3 Homecare industry in CT, nationwide seeks Medicare reimbursements with Harvard cost study By John Stearns jstearns@HartfordBusiness.com A Hartford area homecare agency is sched- uled by Nov. 1 to join a national study conducted by Harvard Medical School examining the effects homecare providers have on reducing unnecessary client hospital- izations and lowering healthcare costs. Right at Home, which has 280 franchisee offices across the country participating in the study, hopes the data ultimately could help make its case for homecare agencies to receive Medicare reimbursements for their contribution to cost containment. The study's findings could also have implications for Connecticut and other states that have adopted policies in recent years to encourage home care over institu- tionalized settings like nursing-home and assisted-living facilities, which are thought to be higher costing. "Nobody's studying it in the way we're doing it, especially not with this national pop- ulation, so this is really the first evaluation of its kind," said David Grabowski, professor of healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School and the study's principal investigator. Key to the study is leveraging technology from homecare software company ClearCare Robert Scandura, owner and CEO of Right at Home for Hartford County, stands with a client for whom his office cared. Scandura's company is participating in a Harvard study that will measure the quality and costs savings associated with homecare services. Continued on page 14 P H O T O | S T E V E L A S C H E V E R State gov'ts energy-reduction efforts need more money By Matt Pilon mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com A $20 million taxpayer-backed investment to reduce state government's energy use and power bills has shown modest results over the last five years, but the state remains well behind an original energy-savings target established by the General Assembly. The legislature created the "Lead by Example" (LBE) program in 2011, aiming to reduce Connecticut's power bill — which exceeds $200 million annually — as well as its environmental footprint by paying for lighting upgrades, replacement windows, new HVAC systems and controls, and a myriad of other efficiency measures at state buildings, univer- sities and high schools. But the program, whose bonded funds have been exhausted on 70 different projects, has only reduced energy consumption by approximately 2.3 percent from 2010 levels, well below the leg- islature's goal of a 20 percent reduction by 2018. The Acadia Center, an environmental nonprofit with an office in Hartford, recently released a report criticizing Lead by Exam- ple's lack of progress. 79 Elm St., Hartford Project Cost: $349,750 Estimated Project Savings: $252,134 Actual Savings So Far: $123,427 Description: Building on a previous upgrade to the energy system in DEEP's headquarters, this project included the installation of new HVAC control mechanisms that can commu- nicate with each other, as well as new variable frequency drives and motors for air handling units. GRADING HOME CARE Continued on page 13 H B J P H O T O | M A T T P I L O N

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