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Source: The Lima News, OhioSept.儲存 05--LIMA -- As the man who used to run St. Rita's Medical Center, Jim Reber doesn't have to be told the healthcare system has some problems to work through.After he retired more than a year ago, the fire still burns inside for Reber with a strong desire to keep working -- not the long hours heading a hospital, but in a way he could use his more than 40 years of knowledge while working to improve the healthcare industry.Like so many things in life, good timing is everything and, with Reber, his retirement could not have come at a better time. Four healthcare organizations, including St. Rita's parent company, Catholic Health Partners, were kicking around ideas to improve the delivery of healthcare while controlling cost.Out of that, Health Innovations Ohio was born and Reber just so happened to be available to accept the job as chief executive officer. It's a job he's excited to talk about as is evident by the smile on his face as he discusses his plans."We have a lot of freedoms to pursue new ideas and good ideas," Reber said.Reber's office is inside St. Rita's although there are 24 hospitals across the state through the four organizations involved that account for 22 percent of the healthcare in the state. And HIO will be licensed to operate in 66 of Ohio's 88 counties.Health Innovations Ohio was created through a collaboration with four healthcare organizations in the state, Catholic Health Partners in Cincinnati, Mount Carmel Health System in Columbus; Summa Health System in Akron and University Hospitals in Cleveland.Health Innovations Ohio is focusing its work in three areas: Medicare Advantage, which is an optional insurance coverage for people covered by Medicare, the federal insurance program mostly for people 65 years of age and older.The second part deals with Medicaid managed care which is finding ways to better serve people in that program. For example, some people use the emergency room for reasons they re新蒲崗迷你倉lly should go to a primary care doctor. The programs also will look at ways to serve the total needs of patients including adding health coaches to make sure people are focused on healthy living so they don't need medical care, he said.Third is population health management working with the 100,000-plus employees in the four organizations to form a comprehensive health and wellness system for employees and their dependents, Reber said.The plan will work to promote a healthy lifestyle through weight management and other programs, for example, that manage diseases such as diabetes, Reber said."The goal is to use our employees as a learning lab to make healthier employees and lower medical care cost," Reber said.HIO works in teams that strive to create innovative solutions to problems while adopting the best practices, Reber said."The overall goal is to provide a better model of healthcare delivery that delivers better healthcare and utilizes fewer resources," Reber said.One big task HIO is working on is to get healthcare providers, including pharmacies on the same page, electronically, so any of them can look up a patient's record on a computer and have a thorough understanding of the patient's history and treatment plan, Reber said.In the past, the coordination, although sounds logical and simple, often was lost in the red tape that is part of the system. Medicine has become so specialized with so many advancements specialist concentrated in their area of expertise without sharing or having a viable way to share information, he said.HIO was not formed as a result of the Affordable Healthcare Act which some refer to as Obamacare but it will help address the cost of healthcare the act targets, Reber said."If the cost of healthcare challenges were simple it would have been solved a long time ago," Reber said.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Lima News (Lima, Ohio) Visit The Lima News (Lima, Ohio) at .limaohio.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesmini storage