Late last week, Governor Lamont announced that the Commissioner of the Office of Health Strategy (OHS), Deidre Gifford, plans to retire from state service in June. No successor was named. Commissioner Gifford has served as the head of OHS since January, 2023. In addition, for the past several years, she has also served as the Governor’s Senior Advisor for Health and Human Services, where she has been responsible for coordinating Connecticut’s health and human services agencies to ensure that they are operating in a coordinated manner and functioning optimally.
OHS is the state agency responsible for implementing data-driven strategies that promote equal access to high-quality health care, control costs, and ensure better health for the residents of Connecticut. Among other functions, OHS administers the State’s Certificate of Need program, which requires certain health care providers to get state approval before undertaking changes of ownership, expanding and terminating various services and undertaking other business initiatives as set forth at C.G.S. §19a-638. OHS also manages the All-Payer Claims Database, a repository of health insurance claims information that insurance companies must collect and share, and Connecticut’s Health Information Exchange (Connie), which allows patient information to be sent securely between health care providers.
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