Hartford Business Journal

14 Hartford Business Journal • March 26, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com GREATER HARTFORD HEALTH • Spring 2018 { Q&A } Veltri oversees state's evolving healthcare policy strategy Victoria "Vicki" Veltri's new role as executive director of the newly created state Office of Health Strategy (OHS) this year builds on her two decades of work in Connecticut's healthcare policy arena. e Colchester resident previously worked as a healthcare legal aid lawyer and general counsel for the Office of the Healthcare Advocate before being named Healthcare Advocate in 2011. She held that position until 2016, taking a job as Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman's chief health policy advisor. e legislature created OHS last year, merging many of the state's major healthcare initiatives under one 45-employee umbrella. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy named Veltri as OHS's leader in January. Q: In creating the Office of Health Strategy, lawmakers consolidated a number of ongoing (and complex) projects relating to healthcare policy, technology and innovation. What was the purpose? A: e priority in Connecticut is to build on our progress in making healthcare more affordable and accessible, and that requires that policymakers and consumers collaborate with insurers, providers, pharma, employers and others. A key asset of the OHS structure, which brings together all the state's healthcare initiatives, is its responsiveness to the evolving healthcare landscape both on the federal and state levels. Q: You now oversee development of a statewide health information exchange, a system that would give doctors a secure, fast way to share patient records with the goal of reducing readmissions and errors. Connecticut has tried for years to develop a health information exchange but has continually hit roadblocks, including a state contractor bungling a prior attempt. Since then, the Connecticut State Medical Society has launched its own exchange (CTHealthLink). In February, the state Bond Commission approved $15 million to build and maintain a state information exchange. How close are we to a working statewide exchange, and are you concerned about overlap with CTHealthLink? A: We are very close to having a statewide health information exchange, and in getting there, we engaged over 300 stakeholders and 130 organizations that helped us recognize the importance of meeting providers wherever they were in developing their own internal systems. eir systems will connect to the state exchange and allow information sharing regardless of what technology platform a provider is using. e Medical Society is a good example; they are a great partner and are one of the exchanges that will connect to the state exchange. e health information exchange is like an interstate highway, and the providers have their own roads that connect to the interstate. ey don't compete with one another, they work together to get information moving, and that improves coordination, reduces medical testing, and means patients are getting better care. Q: Come July, your office will also house the Health Care Cabinet, which has advised state officials on Obamacare and state-level health reform efforts since 2012. In February, the cabinet weighed in on prescription drug prices — the No. 1 driver of healthcare costs growth. A key recommendation is that the state create a regulatory board to investigate drug pricing abuse. Some drug makers don't like the idea. How crucial is a "drug review board" to reining in drug costs? A: e Cabinet recognizes that pharmaceutical costs continue to grow rapidly and that prescription drugs are already unaffordable for many consumers. Drug costs also contribute to rising health insurance premiums. Among other recommendations, the Cabinet recommended establishing a drug review board that could serve several important functions designed to keep consumer costs down and prevent pricing abuse. e drug review board would determine if the manufacturer prices at the pharmacy counter are justified by market norms and the clinical value of the medicine. e recommendations are currently in front of the legislature. H { Health Care Briefs } Travelers tests virtual reality pain treatment for orthopaedic injuries e Travelers Cos. says it's exploring whether virtual reality can help those with lower-back injuries and other discomforts better manage pain. Travelers is collaborating with Cedars- Sinai, Samsung Electronics America, Bayer and appliedVR on a trial testing a so-called digital pain-reduction kit that includes a VR headset, smart watch and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. Cedars-Sinai's Center for Outcomes Research and Education and Department of Orthopaedic Surgery will conduct the research over 16 months on 90 to 140 patients. Travelers, which offers worker's compensation insurance, hopes the technology will improve outcomes for injured employees. Study links longer-term opioid prescriptions to more time off work Longer-term prescribing of opioids causes substantially longer duration of temporary disability among workers with work-related, low-back injuries, according to a new study from an independent, not-for-profit research organization based in Cambridge, Mass. ose longer lasting prescriptions led to out-of-work durations that were more than triple those of disability claims not involving opioids, according to the study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI). WCRI examined data from 28 states, including Connecticut, for injuries between 2008 and 2013 where workers had more than seven days of lost work time. In contrast to the result for longer-term opioid prescribing, a small number of opioid prescriptions over a short period of time did not lengthen temporary disability, according to the findings. Report: CT ranks No. 6 for women, infants and children's health Connecticut ranks sixth nationally for the overall health of women, infants and children, according to a new UnitedHealthcare report. UnitedHealthcare assessed 62 health indicators relating to the community and environment, clinical care, behavior, policies and outcomes. While Connecticut placed high nationally, the report noted "startling health disparities" between states in certain health measurements. For example, South Dakota had the highest rate of child mortality, 36.4 deaths per 100,000 children ages 1 to 18, which was three times higher than Connecticut's rate of 12.8 deaths per 100,000, lowest in the U.S. Connecticut's strengths also included its low teen birth rate and high percentage of publicly funded women's health services. CTHealthLink, DSS agreement seen as benefit to Medicaid patients, doctors A new data-sharing agreement between Connecticut's Medicaid provider and a statewide health information network aims to help Medicare beneficiaries and healthcare providers more easily exchange health data from electronic medical records. e deal between the Department of Social Services (DSS), which administers HUSKY Health, the state's Medicaid program, and CTHealthLink, the physician-led statewide health information network, will allow physicians to access patient information in a more timely, secure manner, allowing for improved care coordination, CTHealthLink said. e agreement will allow providers to submit data once that can be shared and accessed by DSS. CTHealthLink said it will reduce the burden placed on doctors who have to report data to multiple organizations. Victoria "Vicki" Veltri

• Cover