Medicaid Medical Homes Saved $1 Billion in North Carolina

American Medical News (1/23/12):  North Carolina’s Medicaid medical home program saved nearly $1 billion in state and federal spending over four years, largely by reducing hospitalizations and emergency department visits.

The state’s Medicaid care management program, called Community Care of North Carolina, covered about two-thirds of the state’s 1.5 million Medicaid enrollees in 2010. Some beneficiaries, such as those living in nursing homes, are excluded from the care management program, which formally launched in 1998.

The strategy produced a combined $984 million in net savings from fiscal years 2007 to 2010, according to estimates released in mid-December by Milliman, a consultant hired by the state’s Medicaid agency to review the medical home program’s effectiveness. Total savings increased each year and were calculated by comparing actual spending to the expected spending for the same population had it remained in traditional Medicaid. Risk-adjusted spending for program participants in fiscal 2010 was about 15% lower than for others in Medicaid.

To read more, click here.