ODJFS and CareStar Exceed Ohio Home Care Waiver Goals

January 16, 2012

In partnership with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS), CareStar manages the care of almost 14,000 disabled Ohioans through the Ohio Home Care Program. The goal of the Ohio Home Care Program is to enable these persons to remain in the community rather than a nursing facility in a manner that is satisfactory to them and that saves money for the taxpayers. For the recently completed 2011 fiscal year ODJFS and CareStar achieved these goals with flying colors.

For the second consecutive year average monthly service costs declined for Ohio Home Care consumers. The cost per month for consumer was $3,198 in 2011. This represents a 1.9% decline from FY 2010 and a cumulative decline of 4.0% since FY 2009 when the average monthly cost for service was $3,329.



Consumer satisfaction polling conducted in August showed that 90% of Ohio Home Care Program consumers surveyed were either extremely satisfied or very satisfied with the care provided to them by CareStar. Furthermore, 94% of these consumers reported they would recommend CareStar to a friend in need of case management services.

Satisfaction and cost savings are important, but the ultimate goal is to maintain consumers in their communities rather than in skilled nursing facilities.  98% of all consumers enrolled in the program in 2011 met this goal extending the string to six consecutive years where that 98% target was met.

The average cost of services for consumers of the Ohio Home Care Program since 2006 is plotted on the chart below. As a point of comparison, the increase in the Consumer Price Index for Medical expenditures (CPI-M) is displayed for that same time period. The chart depicts the growing savings gap between the average cost of services provided to OHCP consumers and the expected cost if service costs grew at the rate of the CPI-M. The monthly gap per consumer is about $520 by 2011. The cumulative savings for 2006-2011 are about $165 million and growing exponentially as the continued impact of the case management work continues and builds. It is estimated that this cumulative amount will double in 2012 if current trends continue.

Another element of the contract between the Bureau and CareStar requires the company to manage the service providers for the consumers of the OHCP. In this role the company performs annual billing reviews. These reviews have been conducted since 2005, but CareStar did not begin tracking potential overpayments identified by this work until 2008. For the years 2008-2011 nearly $7.2 million of potential overpayments have been identified by these billing reviews for recovery for the State of Ohio.

CareStar’s comprehensive case management process is unlike the typical MCO telephonic-only style and as a result, is consistently proving that state managed services do not have to be discontinued for the lack of public dollars. Multiple states are recognizing CareStar’s process as an effective solution through contracts and/or consultation options for their own state managed Waivers and various systems of care.  Public-private partnerships are developing rapidly within numerous systems such as mental health, developmental disabilities, rehabilitation services, and correctional /transitional programs.

« Back to News