The economics of information exchange: Medicaid in Wisconsin.

In Medicaid, as in all third-party insurance, there are significant costs for information exchange between providers of services and the State (or other insurer), which reimburses those providers. On the basis of a study of Medicaid in Wisconsin, this article indicates that appreciable costs are incurred owing to deficiencies in information exchange between these parties. It is proposed that the costs of automated interventions, which could improve information exchange, be compared with the existing costs of the present system of information exchange.