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Consistency of care with national guidelines for children with asthma in managed care.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the consistency of pediatric asthma care with the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program Guidelines. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey at 2 managed care organizations in the United States (winter 1997-1998). The participants were parents of children (n = 318) age 5 to 17 years with asthma. There were no interventions. The outcome measures were indicators of care in 4 domains: (1) periodic physiologic assessment, (2) proper use of medications, (3) patient education, and (4) control of factors contributing to asthma severity. RESULTS: Of 533 eligible patients with asthma, 318 (60%) parents responded; 59% of children were male, 76% were white, and 60% were aged 5 to 10 years. Deficiencies in care were identified in all care domains including, for patients with moderate and severe persistent symptoms, only 55% used long-term control medication daily, 49% had written instructions for handling asthma attacks, 44% had instructions for adjustment of medication before exposures, 56% had undergone allergy testing, and 54% had undergone pulmonary function testing. CONCLUSIONS: There are significant opportunities to improve the quality of care for children with asthma enrolled in managed care. A comprehensive approach to improving care may be necessary to address multiple aspects of care where opportunities exist.

Adolescent↗

Effects of global competition on health care administration in Finland and the United States. What you can do to save your practice.

Global competition, a faltering Finnish economy, and deep recession are forcing difficult decisions on the health care administrators of this Nordic country known for its extensive social welfare safety net and socialized health care system. In the first part of this article the Finnish health care system and its problems, as well as possible solutions, are presented. Similarities to our own system are noted and discussed. In an interview, the director general for the Minister of Social Affairs and Health of Finland, Kimmo Leppo, expressed concern about future funding sources in his country for the same levels of social welfare and health care programs that presently exist. The Finns are considering managed competition among providers, increasing copayments, excess hospital beds, anticipated hospital closures in their country, block grants, and how to deal with rising physician unemployment. He was interested in the proposed US government health care plans, and especially the state of Tennessee's TennCare plan, a state plan that closely resembled the failed Clinton health care reform package. The second part of this article explores how global competition has brought the pressure of modern competitive economics into the US medical arena.

Cost Savings↗

Ethnic differences in emergency psychiatric care and hospitalization in a program for the severely mentally ill.

Ethnic differences in rehospitalization were examined in a program of intensive services for severely mentally ill hospital recidivists. The purpose was to determine whether ethnicity-related differences in psychiatric admissions observed in national data would appear among clients at great risk for hospitalization but enrolled in a program of case-managed care to promote community adjustment and tenure. After accounting for differences in prior emergency visits and hospitalizations as well as sociodemographic and clinical differences, blacks were found more likely than whites to visit the psychiatric emergency room and to be hospitalized. The marked needs of the severely mentally ill and the intention to address these needs with services did not obviate the continuing importance of racial differences in explaining reliance on inpatient sources of care.

Alcoholism↗

An overview of managed care in state Medicaid programs.

The National Governor's Association predicts that Medicaid will account for 28 percent of total state spending in 1995, double the 1991 level. During 1992, total Medicaid enrollment reached 31.6 million beneficiaries, up 4.7 million (17.5 percent) from 1991. The total expenditure of $118.2 billion in 1992 was up 25 percent from the 1991 level of 94.5 billion. A recent General Accounting Office (GAO) report, revealed that, in 1990, 43 percent of 99 million emergency department visits were for minor ailments. From 1985 to 1990, Medicaid emergency department visits increased 34 percent, compared to 19 percent growth in all emergency department visits. A Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General Report on Medicaid recipient emergency department usage recommended that states develop a comprehensive initiative to reduce nonemergency usage of the emergency department, including increased implementation of managed care options. During 1992, 42 states used some type of Medicaid cost containment measure, with managed care being the most frequent choice.

Cost Control↗

Managed health care for Medicaid enrollees: the Philadelphia model.

HealthPASS, a program of capitated managed care for 82,000 Medicaid enrollees in a defined geographic area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is administered by Healthcare Management Alternatives, Inc. (HMA), a minority-owned corporation, under a multiyear contract with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. HMA has striven to improve care to this low-income community by mounting innovative campaigns to encourage early access to health care, ongoing health education, and aggressive outreach and follow-up, in addition to specific projects designed to reduce infant mortality, expand Head Start, and bolster pediatric care. The program has been judged independently to provide high-quality service cost-effectively.

Adult↗

Physician-system alignment: introductory overview.

The papers in this Special Supplement are based on research funded by the participating members of the joint Center for Health Management Research (CHMR) and Center for Organized Delivery Systems (CODS), and supported by the National Science Foundation under its Industry-University Cooperative Research Center Program. This 3-year research initiative from 1996 through 1999 involved 69 physician organizations (primarily organized medical groups as opposed to IPAs) associated with 14 organized delivery systems. The groups ranged in size from three to 958 with an average size of 76.4 and a median size of 25.0. Comparisons of the study groups with United States physician groups overall are shown in Table 1. The study groups are larger and more likely to be multispecialty than all groups in the United States. The organized delivery systems range in size from one hospital to 80 hospitals with an average of 21 hospitals per system and a median of 11 hospitals per system. They average 4.6 affiliated medical groups with a range from one to 23. The organized delivery systems range in total revenues in 1998 from $340 million to $6.2 billion with an average of $2.1 billion. All the study systems are not-for-profit. Most are located in single market areas, but several are located in multiple markets. For the most part, they represent some of the larger most experienced organized delivery systems in the country. Among the primary objectives of the study was to identify the factors most strongly associated with physician alignment with the health care system and the consequences for the implementation of evidence-based care management practices. The study was also designed to identify the barriers and facilitators to achieving such alignment and its consequences.

Delivery of Health Care, Integrated↗

Improvements in diabetes management and outcomes in a Medicaid managed care system.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of managed care on effectiveness of diabetes management in Tennessee, where a statewide Medicaid program (TennCare) delivers services through capitated managed care organizations (MCOs). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This retrospective cohort study documented the health care utilization experiences and clinical outcomes of a convenience sample of Tennessee Medicaid enrollees with chronic diabetes before and after the initiation of TennCare. Exposures to recommended diabetic services and outcomes were compared before and after TennCare for 171 enrollees with diabetes in the state's largest academic MCO who met age, continuous enrollment, insurance, and diagnostic criteria for two years before (1992 and 1993) and two years after TennCare (1995 and 1996). Claims data were used to assess baseline characteristics and chart review data were used to assess health services utilization for 71% of cohort members (n = 121) for whom complete medical records were available. The paired t-test was used to compare exposures and outcomes before and after TennCare. RESULTS: Participants had an average of 6.4 outpatient clinic visits per year before TennCare vs. 8.2 visits per year after TennCare (P = .0009), 0.6 vs. 1.0 diabetic eye examinations (P = .0042), 0.2 vs. 0.5 foot examinations (P = .0358), 0.4 vs. 0.6 cholesterol assessments (P < .0001), and 0.5 vs. 1.0 glycosylated hemoglobin assessments annually (P < .0001). Average glycosylated hemoglobin decreased from 10.3 to 8.2 (P < .0001). Although hospitalizations and hospital days increased overall, there was no increase in emergency visits, preventable emergency visits, or preventable hospitalizations. CONCLUSIONS: Enrollees with diabetes experienced increases in utilization of recommended health services and improved glucose control following the initiation of Medicaid managed care. These improvements may reflect improved chronic disease care in a primary care gatekeeper system.

Adult↗

Integrated dental management care.

In the early 1980s, the Federal Health Care Finance Administration (HCFA) sponsored four Medicare waiver programs nationwide to determine the economic feasibility of providing oral health services to Medicare-eligible, low-income elderly people. One such project spawned a pioneering New York-based dental care management organization, Integrated Dental Management, Inc. (IDM). IDM, as its name implies, integrates dental services in an interdisciplinary program of health care. This paper describes the history, organization, challenges and accomplishments of this unique modality for improving access to oral health care for elderly people. This will be presented in the context of the Surgeon General's report, "Oral Health in America," as the practice of dentistry enters a new century.

Aged↗

Environmental management of asthma at top-ranked U.S. managed care organizations.

We evaluated the status of nationally top-ranked managed care organizations' (MCOs) asthma disease management programs to identify "best practices" in the environmental treatment and control of asthma. Application materials were developed and mailed to the top 34 managed care organizations, as determined by the ranked results from the October 1998 edition of US News and World Report. Based on the results of a staff and panel review, five applicants were selected for site visitation. The results of the site visits determined two finalists and three runners-up. We recommend that MCOs integrate population and community-based strategies and seek an emphasis on prevention. We encourage collaborations with other organizations and agencies. We endorse home visitation to assess environmental factors and also support use of telephonic case management. We think that smoking cessation programs should be coordinated with asthma management. We consider it important to use alternative forms of communication such as the Internet. And we find that it is important to be mindful of language, culture, and literacy.

Asthma↗

The impact of the vaccine for children's program on child immunization delivery. A policy analysis.

The Vaccine for Children (VFC) program was proposed as part of President Clinton's 1993 Childhood Immunization Initiative. It is a federal vaccine-financing program that pays for and distributes free vaccine to providers serving 4 classes of children: (1) Medicaid insured, (2) uninsured, (3) children with private insurance that does not cover immunizations, and (4) American Indian and Alaskan Native children. Despite support from major professional organizations, the VFC program has come under intense criticism, with critics arguing that the cost of vaccines is not a major barrier to immunization receipt. In this article, we analyze how the VFC program will influence the receipt of immunizations by children under different child health care delivery and financing systems. We conclude that the impact of VFC on access to immunizations will be uneven; however, VFC could significantly improve access to immunizations for the over one third of US children who are either uninsured or covered under Medicaid fee for service. With further augmentations and refinements, VFC could be fashioned to overcome significant and persistent barriers to the timely delivery of immunizations in our disjointed child health financing and delivery systems.

Child↗

Innovations in integrated dual diagnosis treatment in public managed care: the Choate dual diagnosis case rate program.

This article describes the implementation and preliminary evaluation of a dual diagnosis case rate program developed as a collaborative experiment between a public managed Medicaid organization (MHMA) and a specialized integrated dual diagnosis provider (Choate) with a vertically integrated, managed-care oriented system of care. The case rate program applied to dually-diagnosed inpatient referrals for a period of 65 days. On admission, 68% of the patients had little insight, motivation and compliance regarding addiction or psychiatric management. Nonetheless, 56% maintained sobriety for 65 days, and 49% of these were still sober at 95-day follow up.

Adult↗

Managed care. Pennies from heaven?

Managed care now covers almost a quarter of all Medicaid participants, but only a handful of those receiving long term care. And no wonder: Where could the savings be found? A few model programs indicate how--and whether--Medicaid managed care for long term care can work.

Aged↗

Managed dental care. Harbinger of the future?

In recent years, managed care organizations have permeated the medical marketplace in many large cities. Although the number of managed dental care programs has grown, it has been extremely difficult for experts to chart a course for managed dental care. At present, there are massive conflicts arising out of diverse philosophical, political and economic issues, which serve as barriers to the establishment of efficient and effectual dental delivery systems.

Dental Care↗