I saw an article about the Metrohealth experiment several weeks ago but when I went back to find the link I could not find it. Here are some of the highlights in the article, “In Ohio: Medicaid Saves Money, Improves Health”.

MetroHealth, used extensive electronic records to carefully select patients and sent them Medicaid insurance cards before they even applied. Then, they gave each patient personalized attention.

They assigned each patient a nurse. That nurse booked their appointments, called them if they missed one and checked to make sure they took their meds.

Emergency department visits dropped 60 percent. AND primary care visits went up 50 percent.

The hospital ended up spending less on the program than expected, saving an average of $150 on each patient every month.

“Better care, better outcomes, better costs,” Cebul says.

Once again I am reminded that successful health care reforms like this have goals that are defined, measurable, and achievable.  A little less focus on politics goes a long way to making health care reform work better. This is a classic example of management by objectives. Congratulations go out to Mr. Corbett and Dr. Cebul for a job well done!