Report: Ohio Medicaid could be driver of health transformation in the state

A new Budget Matters report from the Cleveland-based Center for Community Solutions concludes that the serious budget challenges the state is facing could be an opportunity to use the Medicaid program to spur health transformation for all Ohioans (Source: “Medicaid Budget Poses Additional Challenges in the FY 2012-2013 Budget,” Center for Community Solutions Budget Matters, Feb. 2011)

Authored by Susan Ackerman, a Public Policy Fellow at the Center, the report addresses the serious fiscal challenge the state’s Medicaid program faces. Outlining the “unsustainable” trajectory of Medicaid costs, the report states that Medicaid costs are forecast to increase by 11.4 percent in FY 2012 and 7.6 percent in FY 2013, while the state share for Medicaid will increase by $1.44 billion, or 46 percent, in FY 2012 because of the loss of federal stimulus funds.

However, the report does conclude with a note of optimism. “The Medicaid program is one of the largest purchasers of health care in Ohio,” Ackerman writes. “As Governor Kasich stated in his Executive Order creating the Office of Health Transformation, Ohio has the unique opportunity to transform health care for the betterment of all using the Medicaid program as the driver for system reform.”