Looking for a better way

Looking for a better way

Akron Beacon Journal: The marathon debate over health-care reform still would have been worthwhile if all it had achieved was to give the failings of the current system a thorough airing.

The catalog of problems has been nothing if not a powerful prod to search for more efficient and cost-effective alternatives to better care and lower costs. For all the criticisms of the health-care overhaul law, it promotes experimentation at the federal and state levels to test alternative models of care.

A model of care that is gaining wide support is the patient-centered medical home. Thus, it is most encouraging that Gov. Ted Strickland signed legislation last week to launch an education and training pilot program for medical homes.