The Changing Face Of Managed Care

Managed care plans--pressured by a variety of marketplace forces that have been intensifying over the past two years--are making important shifts in their overall business strategy. Plans are moving to offer less restrictive managed care products and product features that respond to consumers'...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inHealth Affairs Vol. 21; no. 1; pp. 11 - 23
Main Authors Draper, Debra A, Hurley, Robert E, Lesser, Cara S, Strunk, Bradley C
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Health Affairs 01.01.2002
The People to People Health Foundation, Inc., Project HOPE
Subjects
Consumer attitudes
Consumer Behavior
Consumers
Contract negotiations
Cost Control
Efficiency, Organizational
Employers
Executives
Flexibility
Health care expenditures
Health care policy
Health Care Sector - trends
Health Expenditures
Health maintenance organizations
HMOs
Hospitals
Income
Interviews
Longitudinal Studies
Managed care
Managed Care Programs - economics
Managed Care Programs - statistics & numerical data
Managed Care Programs - trends
Market positioning
Market shares
Medical referrals
Medicare
Negotiating
Organizational Innovation
Physicians
Planning Techniques
PPOs
Product development
Product lines
Product mixes
Profitability
Statistical analysis
Strategic management
Studies
United States
United States > US
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Summary:Managed care plans--pressured by a variety of marketplace forces that have been intensifying over the past two years--are making important shifts in their overall business strategy. Plans are moving to offer less restrictive managed care products and product features that respond to consumers' and purchasers' demands for more choice and flexibility. In addition, because consumers and purchasers prefer broad and stable networks that require plans to include rather than exclude providers, plans are seeking less contentious contractual relationships with physicians and hospitals. Finally, to the extent that these changes erode their ability to control costs, plans are shifting from an emphasis only on increasing market share to a renewed emphasis on protecting profitability. Consequently, purchasers and consumers face escalating health care costs under these changing conditions.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
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ISSN:0278-2715
1544-5208
2694-233X
DOI:10.1377/hlthaff.21.1.11