Title: The culture of managed care: implications for patients.
Abstract: Patients' experiences with managed care raise troubling warning signs about the quality of care in the rapidly changing tJS health-care system. Fifty-one million Americans, nearly 20% of the population, were enrolled in health maintenance organizations (HMOs) by the end of 1994.1 Today, managed care enrolls 7 of 10 workers and their families who are employed by mediumand large-sized firms (employing more than 200 persons) an increase from 47% in 1991 and just 29% in 1988.2 Similarly, rapid growth has occurred among the publicly insured. Medicaid managed-care enrollment has more than doubled in the past 2 years and, today, nearly one-third of all beneficiaries are in some form of managed care.3 Medicare, long considered to be the last bastion of fee-forservice medicine, is the next market that will experience deeper penetration by managed care. The availability of information to consumers about managed care plans has not kept pace with this rapid growth. The title of a recent article in the New York Times business section underscores this disparity.4 Many Americans face this dilemma. For public and private purchasers of insurance, the question has become that of which plan to select for themselves or their employees. But those with no choice of plans confront an even greater dilemma: how can they get quality care for themselves and their families? Consumers need to be better informed about the choices available to them,
Publication Year: 1996
Publication Date: 1996-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['pubmed']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 3
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