Simsbury, Trumbull Are Best Communities for Young Families, Analysis Shows

Simsbury, Trumbull, Kensington, Glastonbury and Orange are the best communities for young families in Connecticut, according to a new analysis by a national financial website. “While parts of Connecticut have some of the highest housing costs in the country,” the website NerdWallet noted, their review of local data “found the communities in the Constitution State that offer young families the best combination of solid schools, great neighbors and affordability.”

The analysis highlighted three main takeaways:

• Small towns are a good bet. Eight of the top 10 best cities for young families in Connecticut have populations of less than 30,000 residents.
• Schools add value. Even though eight of the top 10 cities have median home prices that are above the state median, the excellent schools help families get a solid return on their housing investment.
• Greater Hartford is a winner. Six of the 10 cities are near Hartford, the state’s capital.

The next five communities, following Orange, were Wethersfield, Newington, Winsted, Portland, and North Haven.  West Hartford ranked #11, followed by Terryville (Southington), Bethel, Pawcatuck, Oakville (Watertown) and Shelton.

Data used in the analysis were from the 2013 U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.  The factors that were considered include:

• Home affordability – the survey looked at median home value and selected monthly homeowner costs to prioritize affordable communities.
• Prosperity and growth - reviewing current and past family incomes, NerdWallet calculated the income of residents, as well as the projected long-term growth of each city.
• Quality of education - the ratings at GreatSchools.org were used to determine the best schools.
• Family friendliness - the percentage of families with school-age children and the poverty rate for young children. That measure was designed to help determine if an area is not only affordable for families, but if it is also a healthy one for children, NerdWallet explained.

NerdWallet analyzed the data for 47 places in Connecticut — cities, towns and census-designated places (such as Oakville and Terryville). Only places with over 5,000 residents were analyzed.  The data was weighted 30 percent each for home affordability and family friendliness, 20 percent each for prosperity and growth, and quality of education.

Simsbury topped the list “because it offers young families an outstanding combination of affordability and quality schools” and Trumbull earned the runner-up slot although it has “the most expensive housing in the top 10” because “young families get top value for their housing dollar.”

The website also pointed out that Wethersfield “has done exceptionally well economically in recent years: median family incomes have jumped 89% since 1999, the largest gain in the top 10” and  Glastonbury residents “experienced an 85% jump in median income since 1999.”

Last year’s top 10 included Westport, Wallingford, Milford, Darien, and West Hartford, which all dropped out of the top 10.  New to the top 10 this year were Winsted, Portland, Glastonbury, Kensington, and Simsbury.  The population cut-off for last year’s list was 10,000; this year it was lowered to 5,000.  Trumbull remained at #2 for the second consecutive year, while Orange slipped from #1 to #5. Simsbury, this year’s best town for young families, did not reach the top 10 a year ago, largely due to its population being under 10,000.

Fearful of Social Ridicule? Depends on Your Personality, Researchers Find

Your overall personality temperament may determine how reticent or fearful you are in approaching and handling new situations, academic researchers have found.  Individuals who are more likely to fear being judged harshly by others are also likely to avoid, rather than be open to, new experiences “because of increased risk of behaving in ways that produce social ridicule.” Of the five overarching personality temperaments - Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability and Openness – two personality traits demonstrated particular sensitivity to reticence and “fear of negative evaluation,” according to the researchers at the University of Hartford and two other institutions who collaborated in the study.

The researchers explored the interrelationships of reticence and fear of negative evaluation, or negative social judgment, finding that three of the personality dimensions—Openness, Conscientiousness and Agreeableness—were not significant predictors of either reticence or fear of negative evaluation.

Highly reticent individuals appear to give significant power to others to “define their social selves,” as indicated by the direct impact of fear of negative evaluation on reticence.

Extraversion was the only personality trait that directly and negatively predicted reticence, while Emotional Stability (i.e., Neuroticism) was a direct predictor of fear of negative evaluation. The research also confirmed a strong relationship between reticence and fear of negative evaluation.

Thus, if you understand your personality type, you may better understand your likelihood to respond with reticence, hesitance or fear when confronted with a new situation.

The “dysfunctional thinking” and anxiety due to emotional instability or the lack of openness to new experience contributes to fear of negative evaluation, the study concluded. It is this fear of potential negative social judgment that is at the heart of reticence, in which individuals believe that ‘‘it is better to remain silent than to risk appearing foolish.’’

The study, conducted by communication professor Lynne Kelly of the University of Hartford, Michael Hazel of Gonzaga University and James Keaten of the University of Northern Colorado, was published recently in the journal Communication Research Reports.

To reduce reticence, what is needed in addition to communication skills training, is a focus on helping the individual develop more positive thoughts to counteract those that produce fear of negative evaluation, the researchers indicated.

“Rather than thinking ‘I might say or do the wrong thing,’ the person can be trained to think ‘I am well prepared for this meeting and have some good ideas to share,’” Kelly suggested. By helping people become better communicators and training them to replace anxiety-provoking thoughts with realistic yet confidence-boosting thoughts, they can begin to speak up in more situations.

The so-called “big five personality traits” as generally described in psychology and used in the study are:

• Extroversion – Abundant energy, and the tendency to seek engagement and the company of others.
• Agreeableness - A tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than suspicious and antagonistic towards others.
• Conscientiousness - A tendency to show self-discipline, act dutifully, and aim for achievement.
• Emotional Stability (neuroticism) - A tendency to easily experience unpleasant emotions such as anxiety, anger, or vulnerability.
• Openness to Experience - A person who is high in openness to experience is creative, imaginative flexible, curious and adventurous.

Study participants were undergraduate students enrolled in communication or psychology courses at a private, moderately sized western university and local community college. The survey took about 15 minutes for students to complete.

Of the 336 students who responded, 40 percent were female. Ages ranged from 17 to 56, although 81 percent of the respondents were between 18 and 21 years old.  The demographic breakdown was 70 percent reported European American, 7 percent Asian Americans, 6 percent Hispanics, and 3 percent African Americans.  The researchers suggest that additional research would be warranted, with the full-length version of the “Big Five” personality measures, and a more diverse population demographic.

Connecticut Ranks #18 in Payroll to Population Ratio, Analysis Shows

Connecticut ranks #18 in the nation in a measure of Payroll to Population (P2P), based on an analysis of the nation’s 50 states by the Gallup organization. The P2P metric tracks the percentage of the adult population aged 18 and older who are employed full-time for an employer, for at least 30 hours per week.  The rankings cover calendar year 2014. North Dakota (54 percent) had the nation’s highest Payroll to Population employment rate. A cluster of states in the northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountain regions -- including Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and Iowa -- all made the top 10 on this measure, according to Gallup. West Virginia (35.6 percent) had the lowest P2P rate of all the states for the second consecutive year.

Connecticut was tied with Vermont with a P2P level of 44.3 percent.  Among the New England states, Connecticut and Vermont ranked in the middle, with New Hampshire ranked at #10, Massachusetts at #15, Maine at #22, and Rhode Island at #34.

The year-long results are based on Gallup daily tracking interviews throughout 2014 with 353,736 U.S. adults. The payroll-employed data does not include adults who are self-employed, work fewer than 30 hours per week, who are unemployed, or are out of the workforce.

The differences in P2P rates across states may reflect several factors, Gallup points out, including the overall employment situation and the population's demographic composition. States with large older and retired populations, for example, can be expected to have a lower percentage of adults working full time. Connecticut has the 7th oldest population in the nation, which may influence the state’s overall ranking. The two states with the lowest P2P in 2014, West Virginia and Florida, have two of the largest proportions of residents aged 65 and older, at 17.3 percent and 16.9 percent, respectively.

Regardless of the underlying reason, Gallup indicates that the P2P rate provides “a good reflection of a state's economic vitality.”  Gallup also notes that P2P shows a stronger relationship than do unemployment rates with other important economic indicators, such as state GDP per capita.

In the overall rankings, Washington, D.C., had the highest P2P rate of any area in the country, at 56.4 percent, but Gallup points out that “it is unique in being the only entirely urban region in the survey, heavily dominated by the presence of the federal government, and with one of the lowest percentages of residents aged 65 and older (12.3 percent).”

Local Election Officials Less Responsive If They Think You’re Latino, Study Finds

The answers vary, depending who is believed to be asking.  In an academic study, researchers have found that individuals thought to be Latino by local election officials receive less responsive and accurate answers to basic questions seeking information about voting.  It is described as the first large-scale field experiment investigating bureaucratic behavior that provides “causal evidence of discrimination on the basis of ethnicity or race by election officials.” The authors, Ariel R. White, Noah L. Nathan and Julie K. Faller, Ph.D. candidates at Harvard University, have published the results of their 2012 study, “What Do I Need to Vote? Bureaucratic Discretion and Discrimination by Local Election Officials,” in the February 2015 issues of American Political Science Review.  The graduate students contacted more than 7,000 elections officials in 48 states (Maine and Alaska were not included) – and asked two questions via email of the people who are responsible for both implementing voter-ID laws in many states and providing election-related information to voters.

“We find that officials provide different information to potential voters of different putative ethnicities,” the authors explained.  “Emails sent from Latino aliases are significantly less likely to receive any response from local election officials than non-Latino white aliases and receive responses of lower quality. This raises concerns about the effect of voter ID laws on access to the franchise and about bias in the provision of services by local bureaucrats more generally.”

The field study, in which fundamental voting-related questions were emailed to election officials, was designed to “isolate the effect of ethnicity on real-world performance” of election officials.  It indicates that the officials are less likely to respond to informational inquiries from individuals thought to be Latino.  Emails from Latino names are roughly five percentage points less likely to receive a reply to a question about voter ID requirements than those from non-Latino whites, the Boston Globe reported.

The experiment was designed to determine if “street-level bureaucrats discriminate in the services they provide to constituents.”  The results provide “strong evidence” that they do.  The study concluded that “the responses that Latino emailers received to voter ID questions were less likely to be accurate and were more likely to be non-informative.”  The results “suggest that bias from street-level bureaucrats can occur even when there are not clear strategic reasons for officials to discriminate on the basis of ethnicity.”

The study, just prior to the 2012 election, also indicated that “we find no evidence that whether local officials are elected or appointed, partisan or nonpartisan, or members of specific political parties influences the extent of bias.”

Significantly, given recent court decisions that have rolled back oversight of elections in certain jurisdictions around the country, the study authors indicate that “consistent with the claim that enhanced monitoring reduces discrimination, we find no evidence of bias against Latinos in jurisdictions subject to federal regulation under the Voting Rights Act.”

“These findings have important implications for debates about voter ID laws, and indeed for any changes to voting requirements or election administration,” the authors emphasize in the study’s conclusion.  “Our results indicate that changes to existing voting regulations are likely to differentially increase information costs for Latino voters because public officials are less responsive to their requests for information.”

The 14-page study report also suggests that:

• There is “some evidence that officials respond at lower rates to Latinos, even when asked a question”
• “Public officials can be biased even in exceptionally low cost interactions” such as when only a single word answer (“No”) is necessary
• “If minority voters are less able to acquire information about ID requirements and more likely to be asked for ID at the polls, this could manifest in lower voting rates. This may be greatest where officials are not monitored to prevent discrimination.”

The researchers suggest that future research could “expand the use of experimental methods to examine the presence of bias in service delivery in many other aspects of local administration in the United States” – from” trash collection and snow plowing to the management of welfare offices.”  They raise the question as to whether “similar ethnic or racial biases may affect the quality of services delivered in these other arenas.”

Connecticut, New England Have Lowest Church Attendance, Survey Says

Connecticut residents rank #41 in the nation in regular church attendance, according to a new survey.  The state had plenty of company from New England neighbors at the bottom of the list.  The bottom four slots were occupied by New England states – Vermont at #50, New Hampshire at #49, Maine at #48 and Massachusetts at #47. Rhode Island ranked at #34. In the survey by the Gallup organization throughout 2014, slightly more than half of Utah residents say they attend religious services every week, more than any other state in the union. Residents in the four Southern states of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Arkansas are the next most likely to be frequent church attendees, with 45 percent to 47 percent reporting weekly attendance.

At the other end of the spectrum is Vermont, where 17 percent of residents say they attend religious services every week.  In Connecticut, 25 percent say they attend religious services weekly.  In addition, 19 percent say they attend nearly weekly or monthly, and 54 percent say they seldom or never attend religious services.

The results are based on Gallup Daily tracking interviews throughout 2014 with 177,030 U.S. adults, and reflect those who say "at least once a week" when asked, "How often do you attend church, synagogue or mosque -- at least once a week, almost every week, about once a month, seldom or never?"

Church attendance self-reports are estimates, Gallup notes, and “may not reflect precise week in and week out attendance, but provide an important measure of the way in which Americans view their personal, underlying religiosity.”

Gallup concludes that “within the U.S. there are stark geographic differences in religiosity. In some states of the union -- Utah and Southern states -- roughly half of residents report attending religious services weekly, while in others -- mostly in the Northeast and the West -- a fourth or less of residents attend weekly.”

Ten of the 12 states with the highest self-reported religious service attendance are in the South, along with Utah and Oklahoma, according to the Gallup survey. “The strong religious culture in the South reflects a variety of factors, including history, cultural norms and the fact that these states have high Protestant and black populations -- both of which are above average in their self-reported religious service attendance,” Gallup noted in an analysis of the data.

Utah's No. 1 position on the list, Gallup indicated, “is a direct result of that state's 59% Mormon population, as Mormons have the highest religious service attendance of any major religious group in the U.S.”

In Vermont, 71 percent of respondents indicated they “seldom or never” go to religious services.  That percentage was 65 percent in Maine, 63 percent in New Hampshire, 59 percent in Massachusetts, 54 percent in Connecticut and 53 percent in Rhode Island.

State Report Calls for Tax Incentives, Better Insurance, Greater Flexibility to Improve Care for Rapidly Growing Older Population

A new report by the state legislature’s Commission on Aging, examining state funding and support for home and community-based care for older adults and individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease, has issued more than a dozen recommendations, including establishment of a Dependent Care Tax Credit, release of funds to support home modifications, and extension of paid sick leave to cover care of elderly relatives.  Incentives for employers to offer long-term care insurance coverage are also suggested. The Commission on Aging is a nonpartisan public policy and research office of the Connecticut General Assembly.  A law passed by the legislature last year charged the Commission with studying private sources of funding available to elderly persons and persons with Alzheimer's disease in need of home or community-based care, including the cost effectiveness of such programs funded by the state with recommendations on which state programs should be expanded.

Connecticut is the 7th oldest state in the nation.  Over 70,000 people age 65 and older live with Alzheimer’s Disease or another dementia, and disabilities affect 10.4 percent of all Connecticut residents – nearly 400,000 people. Due to factors including aging demographics and consumer choice, demand for home-care based services is expected to “increase exponentially in coming decades,” according to the report. Between 2010 and 2040, Connecticut’s population of people age 65 and older is projected to grow by 57 percent, with less than 2 percent growth for people age 20 to 64 during the same period.

The 23-page report noted that “informal caregivers are the backbone of the long-term service and support system. It is estimated that the economic value of the care provided by unpaid caregivers is $5.8 billion in Connecticut. Supporting caregivers is a cost effective means of reducing the reliance on costly formal care system.”  The report went on to caution that “without support, caregivers are likely to become emotionally and physically ‘burnt-out’ and find few options” short of turning to institutional care.

The report recommends amending the state tax code to include a Dependent Care Credit where the tax filer can receive a credit for care expenses incurred while a caregiver is working. Home care and adult day care costs are cited as examples of work‐related expenses that may be eligible.

To provide further support to informal caregivers, the report calls on the legislature to extend paid sick leave for those caring for an aging parent or other relative.  Connecticut’s law currently allows paid sick leave to be used for a worker’s own illness or injury, or to care for the worker’s child or spouse.  It does not extend to cover workers who care for a parent or other relative. 

Policies that “allow for flexibility” in work schedules are also urged, cited studies have shown such schedules not only are “an import way to support a caregiver but also… positively affect recruitment and retention efforts.”

The report urges the authorization of $6 million in bond money for home modifications and adaptive technology, which was allocated by last year’s legislature, and development of a list of “vetted home repair and home modification contractors and programs” to improve the likelihood that individuals would be able to “age in place.”

The goal, the report indicated, would be to “enable them to function with greater independence in the home, remain in the community and reduce the need for human assistance. Simple modifications include adding nonslip strips to bathroom floors or other smooth surfaces, improving lighting, providing telephones with large numbers and letters, and installing grab bars. More complex (and expensive) modifications include installing ramps, chair lifts, stair glides, widened doorways, roll-in showers, and lowered countertops.”

Among the other recommendations, the report urges professional development for those whose job it is to care for individuals with Alzheimer’s and dementia, to align with changing demographics in the state’s population.

The report also suggests that policy makers “explore the possibility of incenting employer-based long-term care insurance coverage.”  In 2009 almost 25,000 employers in the U.S. offered long-term care insurance to their employees – just 35 percent of the 7.5 million insurance policies in effect.  In addition, the report encourages the Connecticut Congressional delegation to support a federal tax deduction for long-term care insurance, and urges policy makers to consider making reverse mortgages “a more viable option.”

Additionally, the report also considers advances in technology in the care of older residents.  It describes “telehealth” as a mode of delivering health care, public health and certain non-clinical services using electronic communications technology, stating that it “represents an opportunity for Connecticut to improve access to care, coordination, quality and outcomes for individuals, all while reducing cost, promoting local economic health, and offering a patient-centered approach.”  The Commission on Aging calls on Connecticut to join at least 21 other states that have telehealth parity laws for private insurance, meaning that providers can collect reimbursement for telehealth services.

The report, “Study of Funding and Support for Home and Community-Based Care for Older Adults and Persons with Alzheimer's Disease,” also recommends that the state “address service challenges specific to housing, transportation and behavioral health,” including conducting “walkability audits” to assess sidewalks, crosswalks, and pedestrian access to essential services.  It also suggests that the state “explore the use of taxi vouchers, public and private paratransit services, paid and volunteer driver services, on-demand car rental services and other forms of transportation in the growing “shared mobility” economy.

School Suspensions Down, But Students of Color, Low Income Receive Disproportionate Share

There’s good news and bad news in a new analysis of suspensions, expulsions, and arrests of students in Connecticut schools.  The report, by Connecticut Voices for Children, found that overall significantly fewer students have been excluded from the classroom in recent years, but that suspension, expulsion and arrest rates were much higher for minority students, special education students, and students from poorer districts. The report also found that “many of these discipline measures were used for behaviors that were probably not criminal and could likely have been handled within the school.”  Stressing that “children learn best when they are in school,” the report indicated that “arrests, expulsions, and suspensions are often costly, ineffective, and unnecessary.”

Connecticut Voices for Children is a research and advocacy organization that works to improve opportunities for the state’s children, youth and families. The report, “Keeping Kids in Class: School Discipline in Connecticut, 2008-2013,” uses data provided by local school districts, found that in 2013, 7.4 percent of all students received at least one expulsion or suspension, down from 8.5 percent as recently as 2011.

First, the good news:

• The number of students arrested, expelled, and suspended in Connecticut has decreased significantly in recent years. In the 2013 school year, Connecticut schools arrested 35 percent fewer students, expelled 31 percent fewer students, and gave out of school suspensions to 47 percent fewer students than in 2008.

The not-so-good news:

• Despite the overall reduction in these “exclusionary” school discipline practices, many students are still removed from the classroom for non-criminal behaviors that could, in the view of Connecticut Voices, be managed in the classroom. “School policy violations” – such as skipping class, insubordination, or using profanity – were involved in 9 percent of student arrests, 6 percent of expulsions, 50 percent of out-of-school suspensions, and 79 percent of in-school suspensions in 2013.

From 2008-2013 the percentage of students suspended out-of-school fell from 4.9% to 2.7%. During the same time period, the percentage of students suspended in-school increased from 4.9% to 5.2%.

Of particular concern was the data related to students of color and those with limited financial resources or disability:

• In 2013, black students were 4.7 times more likely to be arrested, 4.9 times more likely to be expelled, and 6.5 times more likely to be suspended out-of-school than white students.
• Hispanic students were 3.1 times more likely to be arrested, 2.6 times more likely to be expelled, and 4.4 times more likely to be suspended out-of-school than white students.
• Special education students were arrested at 3 times the rate of general education students, and they were 1.8 times more likely to be expelled, and 2.6 times more likely to receive out-of-school suspensions.
• Students in the poorest urban areas were arrested nearly 23 times more often, expelled over 17 times more often, and suspended out-of-school 24 times more often than students in the wealthiest suburban areas.

Based on the data, the report makes a series of recommendations for the state Department of Education and policymakers to consider, including:

• Require districts with police stationed in schools to create a memorandum of agreement between the schools and police that sets ground rules concerning arrests. Promote police and educator training, such as that provided by the state’s Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee, which offers instruction to officers and educators in understanding and responding productively to adolescent behavior.
• Implement preventive strategies and alternative discipline measures to reduce racial and other disparities and ensure those excluded from school are provided equal opportunities.
• Establish and support community collaborations across the state. National studies show that engaging all stakeholders in the discipline process positively impacts student behavior and achievement.

The top 10 reasons for expulsion in 2013:  1) drug/alcohol/tobacco, 2) weapons, 3) fighting/battery, 4) personally threatening behavior, 5) school policy violations, 6) theft/theft related behaviors, 7) verbal confrontation/conduct unbecoming 8) violent crimes against persons, 9) sexually related behavior, and 10) property damage.

The report concludes that “the disproportionate rate by which students of color and students from poorer districts are excluded from school may in fact contribute to widening the achievement gap; students from less privileged backgrounds will continue to perform worse than their more advantaged peers if they are excluded from the classroom in the first place.”

The report also recommends expanding access to behavioral and mental health services and utilize Juvenile Review Boards (JRBs), locally-run groups that offer a diversionary alternative to the court system for youth who have committed minor delinquent acts or misdemeanors.  In addition, it calls for improving data collection by clearly defining “student arrests” (not currently defined by the state) and collecting and publishing data on all student arrests (currently not required for all incidents resulting in arrests).

“This report tells us that many schools in Connecticut have reformed their disciplinary practices and reduced student arrests, expulsions and out-of-school suspensions,” said Ellen Shemitz, Executive Director of Connecticut Voices for Children. “Yet these reforms have not benefited all children equally. How can we hope to reduce the yawning achievement gap when school disciplinary practices push minority children out of school at disproportionate rates?”

CT Ranks Last in Job Creation, Poll of Workers in 50 States Reports

To say that the latest Gallup Poll on state-by-state job creation reflects little good news for Connecticut would be an understatement.  Connecticut ranked last in the survey for 2014, which is determined based on full- and part-time workers' reports of whether their employer is hiring and expanding the size of its workforce, not making changes, or letting people go and reducing its workforce. “Connecticut has consistently ranked in the bottom tier for job creation, and its position at the very bottom in 2014, along with continued low ratings of other New England states and neighboring New York, suggests that is unlikely to change in 2015,” the survey summary predicted.

It marked the second time this month that Gallup reported diminished economic rankings for Connecticut.  The national poll’s economic confidence report, based on Gallup Daily tracking interviews with 176,702 national adults conducted from January through December 2014, indicated that Connecticut dropped out of the top 10 and into the middle-of-the-pack among the nation’s 50 states.  Leading the nation in “economic confidence” were Minnesota, Maryland and California.    

The newly released 50-state survey on job creation placed Connecticut at the bottom of the pile, as workers reported the worst hiring climate, although still net positive.  All 50 states had positive net hiring scores, and all but three -- West Virginia, Alaska and New Mexico -- have markedly improved on this measure since these ratings hit their low point in 2009, according to Gallup’s survey.

Joining Connecticut in the bottom dozen were the New England states of Rhode Island, Vermont, and Maine, along with Neighboring New York and New Jersey, as well as Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, West Virginia, New Mexico and Alaska.

North Dakota maintained its position at the top of Gallup's annual ranking, with employed North Dakota residents providing a strongly upbeat report on hiring conditions where they work -- the most positive of any state.   In North Dakota, 48 percent of workers in 2014 said their employer is hiring and 12 percent said their employer is letting workers go, resulting in a +36 Job Creation Index score.

By contrast, Connecticut's +16 index score reflects 33 percent of workers saying their employer is hiring and 17 percent letting go, the Gallup survey found.  Only two states – Vermont (31%) and Montana (33%) – had equal or lower percentages responding that their employer is hiring, expanding the workforce. Connecticut and Rhode Island tie for compiling the worst collective job creation scores since 2008 and are the only states to have ranked in the bottom 10 each year.

The 2014 state-level findings are drawn from 201,254 interviews with employed adults nationwide, conducted throughout the year as part of Gallup Daily tracking. In Connecticut, 2,503 individuals were interviewed, with one-third saying their employer was hiring, nearly half (43%) reported hiring was not changing, and 17 percent saying that their employer was reducing the workforce.

Beyond North Dakota, other top states were Texas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Iowa and South Dakota.  Michigan's presence among the states with the highest Job Creation Index scores is notable because it represents one of the sharpest turnarounds of any state in the seven years Gallup has measured job creation, according to Gallup. Michigan was among the worst-performing states in 2008 and 2009, but with significant improvements in that state's economy, it rose to about average net hiring in 2010, and has ranked among the top-performing states in each of the past two years, Gallup pointed out.

The index was up year-over-year in most states, the Gallup survey revealed, but particularly in Oklahoma, Oregon and New Hampshire, where it rose nine points each. At the same time, net hiring failed to improve in a handful of states -- North Dakota, Alaska, Hawaii, Delaware, South Dakota, Minnesota, Tennessee and Connecticut -- where the index was basically flat in 2014, the report indicated.

http://youtu.be/fLPPLHDo2FU

Racial, Ethnic Disparities Common in CT Hospital Readmissions, Study Finds

An Hispanic patient hospitalized in Connecticut for heart failure is 30 percent more likely than a White patient to end up back in the hospital within a month, according to a study published in Connecticut Medicine, the journal of the Connecticut State Medical Society.  The study also found that a Black patient hospitalized for chest pain is 20 percent more likely to be readmitted within 30 days after discharge. The study was based on an analysis of the Connecticut Hospital Inpatient Discharge Database -admissions to Connecticut hospitals from 2008-2012. The findings, the study noted, “should serve as a catalyst for further investigation of the interplay between patient characteristics, hospital practices, community-based resources, and insurance coverage” in fostering “racial and ethnic disparities in health and healthcare.”

The multi-year study discovered significant and pronounced disparities in readmission rates for Black and Latino patients compared to White patients in 9 of 10 major diagnostic categories.

The Connecticut State Medical Society hosted a well-attended symposium last week highlighting its multi-year research into racial and ethnic disparities in readmissions.  The symposium, funded by the Connecticut Health Foundation, brought together physicians, nurses, patients, and other stakeholders from across the state. The stakeholders had an opportunity to review and discuss the CSMS research data, and also provided insight and interpretations of the disparities. The feedback will be integrated into clinical recommendations for care delivery models that may help to reduce the level of disparity in hospital readmission rates.

The symposium was designed to provide an opportunity to take a fresh look at these readmission disparities and determine more effective ways to address them. Stakeholders included physicians and other licensed health care providers; social service providers; healthcare/social service administrators, leaders, and managers; lawmakers and policy analysts; patients and their family members; healthcare consumers and patient advocates.  It focused on documenting potential best practices of the four conditions with the greatest racial and ethnic disparities in readmission rates, as determined in the study:  Uncomplicated Delivery, Joint Replacement Surgery, Heart Failure & Chest Pain, and Digestive Disorders.

The study also noted that “barriers to accessing community based care among Connecticut Medicaid beneficiaries are well-documented, often leaving such patients with few options other than hospital care for both urgent and non-urgent conditions.”

The study’s authors noted that “this study adds to a growing body of evidence on disparities in hospital readmissions in several important respects.”  First and foremost, they point out, “racial and ethnic disparities observed in this study were considerably more pronounced than disparities generally reported in previous studies.”

“We’re seeing large disparities in readmissions for a number of conditions,” Robert Aseltine, the study’s lead author and professor of behavioral science and community health at the University of Connecticut Health Center, told the Connecticut Health Investigative Team (C-HIT). “There’s no one factor that jumps out. There’s no simple answer. ” Co-existing health conditions and socioeconomic status, for example, “don’t explain everything away.”

In March 2014, a report by Mathematica Policy Research for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation indicated that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services observed a year earlier that “while overall quality is improving, access is worse and there has been no improvement in lessening disparities.” The report goes on to point out that there “appears to be a shift from the concept of disparities to one of equity. The shift provides more focus on action and social justice relevant to a wide variety of subpopulations.”

In 2010, when “nearly half of U. S. physicians identify language or cultural communication barriers as obstacles to providing high-quality care,” physician adoption of practices to overcome such barriers was described as “modest and uneven, according to a national study by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC).

The new Connecticut study was conducted by Robert H. Aseltine, Jr, PhD, Jun Yan, PhD, Claudia B. Gruss, MD, Catherine Wagner, EdD, and Matthew Katz, MS.

CT Ranks #4 in Planned Parenthood Locations Per Capita; 17 Sites in State

Connecticut ranks #4 in the nation in the number of Planned Parenthood locations per capita, according to a state-by-state analysis. Connecticut, with a total of 17 locations in the state, ranks behind only Vermont, Alaska and Montana in the number of clinics per 100,000 women ages 15-50.  According to the analysis by Bloomberg.com, Connecticut’s estimated population of 856,016 women ages 15-50, or a ratio of 1.99 locations per 100,000 women.  Rounding out the top 10 are Iowa, Washington, Colorado, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Indiana.

The 17 locations in Connecticut are in Bridgeport, Danbury, Danielson, Enfield, Hartford, Manchester, Meriden, New Britain, New Haven, New London, Norwich, Old Saybrook, Stamford, Torrington, Waterbury, West Hartford and Willimantic.

The mission of Planned Parenthood is to “protect the fundamental right of all individuals to manage their own fertility and sexual health, and to ensure access to the services, education and information to realize that right,” the organization’s website points out.

Among the states with the fewest number of Planned Parenthood locations, and the lowest number per capita, are North Dakota (0 locations), Mississippi (1 location), and Alabama, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Kentucky, each with 2 locations in the state.

California has the most locations, with 115, followed by New York with 59, Texas with 39, Pennsylvania with 38, Washington with 33 and New Jersey and Ohio with 28.  Connecticut ranks fifteenth in the number of Planned Parenthood locations in the state.

Planned Parenthood’s website describes the organization as “your trusted source for STD/STI testing, birth control, pregnancy tests and counseling, emergency contraception and more - all in a convenient, confidential and safe environment.”  The site notes that the organization offers “a sliding fee scale based on your income” and participates with many insurance plans.

Last month, as part of Cervical Health Awareness Month, Planned Parenthood of Southern New England (PPSNE) urged women to “start the year off right by taking charge of their health with important preventive screenings, such as a Pap test, which can detect irregularities that lead to cervical cancer.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released new data showing that while cervical cancer screenings have been proven to save lives, about eight million women ages 21 to 65 have not been screened for cervical cancer in the past five years. More than 12,000 women in the U.S. are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, and more than half of these cases are in women who have never been screened or in those who haven’t been screened in the past five years, according to Planned Parenthood.

The analysis ranking the states for Planned Parenthood locations uses data from the U.S. Census and Planned Parenthood, as of December 31, 2014.