COLUMBIA, S.C. - Jazaria Davis and her twin sister, Jazoria, were born three months premature, each weighing less than two pounds.

While Jazoria was sent home within weeks, Jazaria spent the next few months sick and feeble. She was cared for in the neonatal intensive care unit at Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital.

Their parents, Walter and Shawna Davis, were facing years of having to deal with a complex, uncoordinated and costly health care system. Help came when their surgeon referred them to the Medically Fragile Children's Program.

The program focuses on some of the weakest children - and most expensive to care for - in the Medicaid program. In exchange for a monthly fee of $2,250 per patient, it coordinates all of their health care from a facility in downtown Columbia.

By spending money on that coordination, the program has saved countless dollars that could have been wasted in caring for Jazaria.

The program allows the Davis children to see a single pediatrician, ensures they receive their medications and arranges for therapy twice a week. When their parents need advice, they have one number to call at all hours of the day, and they have received extensive training on how to care for their twins.

The Medically Fragile program, which was launched a little less than a decade ago, is being held up as an example of better health care at a lower price.

The program is receiving growing national attention from hospitals and state governments. It's also receiving attention from Gov. Mark Sanford's office, which may use it as a model of how to save money by coordinating the work of multiple agencies.

Palmetto Richland started a second program in Easley with help from the Greenville Hospital System two years ago. This spring, the Medical University of South Carolina hopes to admit the first patients to its own center.

The program began as a way to centralize health care and social services for foster children. Caring for these children was costing Medicaid a bundle, mostly because of a lack of coordination among different providers and service agencies, which led to much duplication and sometimes unnecessary treatments.

The Medically Fragile program seeks to put all basic services under one roof.

The center at Palmetto Richland employs a full-time pediatrician and a local pediatric group that's on call 24 hours a day, a child psychologist, nurses, therapists, a pharmacist, dietitian and educators. It also handles referrals to specialists.

Once a month, parents receive supplies for their children, including diapers, formula and prescription drugs. They also can get special equipment such as wheelchairs or leg braces.

The coordination has resulted in substantial savings. Before children are enrolled in the program, caring for them can cost Medicaid anywhere from $3,782 to $18,211 a month, more than half of which goes to hospitals for inpatient visits. After enrollment, that cost is reduced to $2,615 to $3,605 per month. Only 5 percent of that cost is for hospital stays.

Proponents say that if all 250 of the state's medically fragile foster children were placed in such a program, it could save Medicaid $6.2 million a year, and the Department of Social Services an additional $5.5 million.