OhioHealth Finds Partner to Help Care for Underserved Seniors

OhioHealth is partnering with ChenMed, a senior primary care company in Miami, to open three new clinics next year to serve low- to moderate-income seniors in Columbus, Ohio, reports HealthLeaders Media . The new clinics will feature onsite services that include pharmacy and radiology. OhioHealth's Michael Krouse says the clinics will be the starting point for a wider strategy to customize care offerings to specific classes of care recipients. They will be based in neighborhoods that are underserved by primary care providers. "The bottom line is serving as many people in our community as we possibly can, with an eye toward minimizing total cost and an eye toward maximizing access," Krouse notes. ChenMed clinics use a capitated payment per member per month scheme. A study published in the American Journal of Managed Care estimated that the ChenMed model yields about a 50 percent reduction in hospitalization, a 33 percent reduction in emergency room utilization, and a 28 percent reduction in costs.