The Ohio House of Representatives last week unanimously passed a bill that would create and test a patient-centered medical home system in the state.

If enacted, 44 existing primary care practices " including four led by advanced nurses and at least six serving rural areas " would be converted to medical home practices throughout the state.

A medical home is a system that that seeks to coordinate patient care by having a primary care physician centrally manage care and care services. It implies maximizing the use of health information technology to communicate with specialists and to manage medications and tests and to keep the patient in the loop at all times.

The approach also calls for a reimbursement system that pays for procedures and acute care treatment but also rewards clinicians for health promotion, disease prevention and disease management.

Advocates say that the approach results in improved care and lower costs, thanks to better prevention of illness and injury; better management of chronic and high-cost diseases like diabetes; lower emergency room use; fewer hospital admissions and fewer unnecessary tests and procedures.

Ohio H.B. 198, co-sponsored by Reps. Peter Ujvagi (D-Toledo) and Peggy Lehner (R-Kettering), is unfunded but directs an advisory council established to oversee the program to seek out federal grants or other external funding sources.

Physician practices that participate will be reimbursed no more than 75 percent for any heath IT systems that they purchase for the project, as well as for any training or technical support needed to convert to a medical home model.

If and when funding is received, the advisory council is to present an interim report to the legislature and the governor within six months and a final report within two years.

Each report will include an evaluation of the lessons learned during the demonstration, the costs involved and the extent to which the project has met a set of expected outcomes.

Rep. Ujvagi called the medical home demonstration project outlined in H.B. 198 "a first step to improving comprehensive health care in our communities."

The bill now goes to the Ohio State Senate for consideration.