Mission

To implement comprehensive, data driven strategies that promote equal access to high quality health care, control costs, and ensure better health outcomes for the people of Connecticut.

The Office of Health Strategy (OHS) was established effective January 1, 2018 by June Special Session Public 17-2.

The OHS develops health policy that improves health outcomes and limits health care cost growth across all sectors, whether private or public, including hospitals, physicians and clinical services and prescription drugs. Creation of this office brings together critical data sets and health information exchange efforts and allows for collaboration with many stakeholders, including state agency partners. Working with comprehensive data and experts from inside and outside government, OHS will develop and support state-led multi-payer healthcare payment and service delivery reforms.

The Office of Health Strategy will include three teams, working together:

Health Data and Analysis

• Create and administer a state Health Information Exchange (HIE) to facilitate coordination across care settings, reduce costs associated with preventable readmissions, duplicative testing and medical errors, and provide patient access to personal medical records.
• Administer the All-Payer Claims Database (APCD) program for the purpose of collecting, assessing and reporting health care information relating to safety, quality, cost-effectiveness, access and efficiency for all levels of health care.

• Create and administer a consumer health information website for the public to find accurate and reliable information to help make informed decisions when choosing health plans and providers.
  • Prepare the statewide Health Information Technology Plan (HIT Plan) to ensure that appropriate governance, oversight and accountability measures achieve the state's health information technology goals.
  • Establish electronic health information standards for use by health care providers and institutions including provisions relating to security, privacy, data content, structures and format, vocabulary and transmission protocols.
    
    
    

Health Innovation and Strategy

• Develop state-led, multi-payer healthcare payment and service delivery reforms;
• Provide technical assistance to providers to support participation in model reforms;
• Develop and promote health insurance and coverage innovations that remove financial barriers to, or introduce rewards for healthy behavior, preventive care, medication adherence, chronic disease management, and use of high-value services and providers;
• Develop innovations for the management and financing of cross-sector community initiatives to improve health;
• Promote healthcare workforce innovations, and
• Seek and administer state and federal demonstration programs that support these activities.

Health Systems Planning

On July 1, 2018, the Office of Health Care Access (OHCA) was consolidated within the Office of Health Strategy as the Health Systems Planning Unit to continue and enhance health systems planning. The HSP Unit will continue to have statutory authority to gather and analyze specified hospital financial, billing and discharge data such as hospital expenses and revenues, uncompensated care volumes, hospital utilization, demographic, clinical, charge, payer and provider statistics.

The unit’s major functions are to:

• Administer the certificate of need (CON) program to promote appropriate development of health facilities and services that addresses a public need. The CON program strives to ensure accessibility for needed services while limiting duplication or excess capacity of facilities and services;
• Prepare the Statewide Health Care Facilities and Services Plan;
• Collect and analyze health care data and issue reports including the biennial utilization study; and
• Review hospital financial information and issue reports including an annual acute care hospital financial stability report.