Kasich unveils major Medicaid restructuring plan

Gov. John Kasich announced yesterday a major restructuring of Ohio’s Medicaid system (Source: “Gov. John Kasich creates health transformation office aimed at tackling Medicaid problems,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Jan. 14, 2011).

Kasich is creating, by executive order, the Governor’s Office of Health Transformation, which will oversee all six state agencies that have a hand in administering Ohio's Medicaid program.Greg Moody was announced as director of the agency.

Moody’s office has been charged with developing cost-containment measures for Medicaid, which currently accounts from more than 25 percent of the state budget.

“It's going to be a combination of policy changes that interact in really complex ways that we're going to try to figure out in the next 90 days and then through the course of the budget process, to make sure by June we have a package that works together," Moody said.

Kasich also named Dr. Theodore Wymyslo, a family physician from the Dayton area, as director of the Department of Health and Bonnie Kantor-Burman director of the Department of Aging.  The governor also introduced John McCarthy of Washington, D.C. as his pick for director of the Office of Ohio Health Plans, which oversees the state's Medicaid operations.

Moody served as the interim director at the Health Policy Institute of Ohio last year. Click here to read HPIO President Amy Rohling McGee’s statement on his appointment.