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With the successful passage of the health care initiatives contained in the state budget, Ohio took the first step in transforming the state's health care system into one that places the person before the program. The common-sense Medicaid and cost containment policies enacted in the budget were part of the first major initiative for the Office of Health Transformation (OHT). With the budget and policies in place, OHT has moved on to the second phase of its work: determining what Ohio needs to be doing differently, more efficiently or more effectively to provide necessary health and human services.
Ohio's vision for better care coordination includes the creation of a person-centered care management approach, in which services are integrated for all health, long-term care and social needs. These services must be easy to navigate for consumers and providers and be provided in the setting consumers choose. Consumers must be able to seamlessly move among settings as needs change and provider payment will be linked to person-centered performance outcomes.
OHT's next steps:
Get more value for taxpayers.
Ohioans spend more per person on health care than residents in all but 13 states, according to the March 2011 Kaiser Family Foundation State Health Facts. Unfortunately, higher spending is not resulting in higher quality or better outcomes for Ohio citizens. Forty-one states have a healthier workforce than Ohio, according to the Commonwealth Fund 2009 State Scorecard on Health System Performance.
Help systems talk to each other to become more efficient and make better decisions.
Health services in Ohio need to share information and services to increase efficiency. OHT's next goal is to recommend a permanent health and human services organizational structure that consolidates health and human service operations, including eligibility determination, enterprise decision support and claims payment. To get to this next level, OHT will convene work teams to address key areas that could benefit from additional coordination. One of the first task groups will is developing a more integrated approach to accessing information across all of Ohio's health and human services operations and enhancing decision support capabilities at all levels. Currently, Ohio's outdated information technology systems do not share information readily, and the state lacks comparison data on which to base decisions.
Simplify access to services.
Another task group will focus on eligibility determination. Currently, Ohio's counties follow different determination processes, resulting in inconsistent application of eligibility rules. There are 160 categories of eligibility for Medicaid, alone, and two separate processes to determine disability, resulting in duplication and excessive cost.
Coordinate from the top down.
Governor Kasich has created a new Cabinet-level Health and Human Services project office to help gather input from agencies beyond the health sectors. The project office includes not only the OHT agencies but also the Office of Budget and Management and the Department of Administrative Services, adding budget and information technology expertise to the existing OHT framework. OHT and the project office will set mission and policy goals for the next phase of Ohio's health care system transformation.
Solving Ohio's health care system problems will be no small task, but with the same innovation that made the Medicaid budget reforms possible, Ohio will be successful.
More information and progress updates can be found on the OHT website at healthtransformation.ohio.gov/
Aging Connection, published regularly by the Ohio Department of Aging, connects professionals in Ohio’s aging network to information and resources that can help them care for and serve our older citizens. Topics include the latest resources and best pactices within the aging network, state and federal programs and benefits, pending and recent policy and legislation that may impact older Ohioans, the latest research in gerontology and aging issues and more.
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