"Social-service advocates fed up with a fragmented, costly health and human services system welcomed a proposed change presented yesterday by Gov.-elect Mitt Romney's top health care adviser. Charles D. Baker Jr., chief of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Inc., outlined a plan yesterday to reorganize the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. Instead of 15 separate agencies serving different types of clients, there would be seven departments based on functions such as case management, information services, purchasing and personnel. As an analogy, Baker said, it would be like treating health and human services as a single store rather than a mall. The plan, presented at an event sponsored by the Pioneer Institute, would make client services more efficient and save money by eliminating redundancies, Baker said. Also, the state might find more ways to snare federal matching funds. The plan was developed over the summer long before Romney was elected. But Baker, who heads Romney's health care transition team, said he will push it. "I would expect the incoming administration to engage this debate," he said."
Something has to be done very quickly to reduce healthcare spending. Reducing the number of agencies is part of the plan, but ongoing reengineering of the information systems and processes associated with healthcare is also required. I hope that his is part of the vision.
