Study: Ohio 44th in Medicaid spending on home care

An update of a study by the Ohio Council for Home Care found that Ohio ranks 44th in the nation in the percentage of Medicaid long-term care spending on home- and community-based care (Source: “Ohio's demographics a hurdle to home care,” Columbus Dispatch, March 20, 2009).

The study, conducted by economic analyst Howard Fleeter, also found that if Ohio were able to meet
the 2004 national average of 39 percent, of long-term-care spending going to home care, the state could save at least $140 million a year (2004 is the most recent year for which national data is available).

Gov. Ted Strickland's two-year state budget proposal calls for the re-evaluation of hundreds of nursing-home patients to assess whether they could, or would want to, be cared for at home or in a community-based facility.

The governor's plan sets a goal of moving 800 patients out of nursing homes in the next two years and diverting 1,445 more from entering nursing homes by using home- and community-based services.