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PubMed1998

Program directors' views of the effect of managed care on substance abuse programs in Los Angeles county.

OBJECTIVE: This study sought information about the effect of managed care on substance abuse treatment programs through a survey of program directors. METHODS: Fifty program directors who supervised a total of 134 substance abuse treatment programs in Los Angeles County completed a survey during the period from January to May 1997 on program changes made in response to managed care, major concerns, the advantages and disadvantages of managed care, and plans for further program changes to succeed in the managed care environment. RESULTS: Program directors reported that the most frequent change made in response to managed care was increased outreach and marketing. Their greatest concern in the managed care environment was being forced to provide the least costly service, rather than the best care for patients. Respondents identified an increased focus on outcomes as an advantage of managed care and restrictions on services due to contractual agreements as a disadvantage. Planned program changes addressed the areas of program structure, types of programs offered, staff composition, revenue generation, referral sources, prevention, outcome measures, relationships with other organizations, and accreditation and certification. CONCLUSIONS: Although some substance abuse treatment programs seem to be reducing their scope or preparing to close in response to managed care, others are developing strategies to survive and even thrive in this new economic environment.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Challenges of program implementation in a managed care environment: a case study in measuring medication persistence.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the challenges of implementing a disease management program in a managed care environment. SUMMARY: A key element in the successful management of depression is ensuring persistent consumption of medication throughout the duration of a standard course of therapy. However, treating physicians rarely have easy access to the exact records necessary to determine medication persistence. Prescription claims databases do contain this information. Properly identifying problem consumption patterns from these data is one of the most valuable services that managed care pharmacists can provide in a disease management program. The experiences of Aetna Inc. in implementing a depression management program illustrate some of the most important factors to be considered when designing a program: obtaining approval from senior management, measuring baseline performance before program initiation, selecting plan members and physicians based on patterns of consumption in prescription claims data, and quantifying effectiveness. CONCLUSION: A visual representation of prescription refill dates and quantities available in prescription claims databases allowed member physicians to determine, at a glance, each patient.s medication persistence. Such representations of data are valuable for helping identify problem consumption patterns that require further analysis, such as noncontinuous treatment, low usage, and nonpersistence. However, such data are not recommended for use in a vacuum. that excludes considerations such as therapeutic indication and environment.

Antidepressive Agents↗
PubMed2005

Assessment of Medicaid managed behavioral health care for persons with serious mental illness.

OBJECTIVES: This five-site study compared Medicaid managed behavioral health programs and fee-for-service programs on use and quality of services, satisfaction, and symptoms and functioning of adults with serious mental illness. METHODS: Adults with serious mental illness in managed care programs (N=958) and fee-for-service programs (N=1,011) in five states were interviewed after the implementation of managed care and six months later. After a multiple regression to standardize the groups for case mix differences, a meta-analysis using a random-effects model was conducted, and bioequivalence methods were used to determine whether differences were significant for clinical or policy purposes. RESULTS: A significantly smaller proportion of the managed care group received inpatient care (5.7 percent compared with 11.5 percent). The managed care group received significantly more hours of primary care (4.9 compared with 4.5 hours) and was significantly less healthy. However, none of these differences exceed the bioequivalence criterion of 5 percent. Managed care and fee for service were "not different but not equivalent" on 20 of 34 dependent variables. Cochrane's Q statistic, which measured intersite consistency, was significant for 20 variables. CONCLUSIONS: Managed care and fee-for-service Medicaid programs did not differ on most measures; however, a lack of sufficient power was evident for many measures. Full endorsement of managed care for vulnerable populations will require further research that assumes low penetration rates and intersite variability.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Bringing managed care home to people with chronic, disabling conditions: prospects and challenges for policy, practice, and research.

This article examines the challenges and opportunities inherent in the idea that home care organizations may be able to reinvent themselves into managed care systems for the frail elderly and chronically ill. Data come from three sources: (a) existing literature, (b) a survey with experts, and (c) insights from an organization with direct experience in designing and implementing first- and second-generation managed care programs. The authors conclude that although even the best-positioned home care organizations will face significant challenges in transitioning to managed care systems (e.g., establishing medical linkages, building managed care capacity, securing funding, dealing with regulatory hurdles), changes in the environment may enable these challenges to be overcome. Home care organizations are beginning to use innovative techniques to manage care, and those with a strong commitment to the chronically ill may be interested and capable of pursuing the option of becoming home-based managed chronic care programs.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Risk factors for antihypertensive medication refill failure by patients under Medicaid managed care.

Antihypertensive medication noncompliance is common and leads to substantial morbidity for patients and increased health care costs for managed-care organizations. A retrospective cohort study using pharmacy prescription profiles to estimate noncompliance was conducted to determine important risk factors for patient noncompliance with antihypertensive therapy for Medicaid enrollees participating in a managed-care plan. The pharmacy and claims data for 1395 patients with uncomplicated hypertension who were enrollees of Tennessee's Medicaid managed-care program were analyzed to determine the frequency of the enrollees' failure to obtain timely antihypertensive medication refills (hereafter referred to as refill failure) and to identify the predictors of refill failure. Overall, refill failure occurred in 33% of 7413 refill opportunities studied, whereas refill failure occurred in 32% of the cases in which medication was dosed once daily and in 35% of the cases in which medication was dosed more than once daily. For patients taking alpha-blockers, there was a significantly lower rate of refill failure (11.0%) than for patients taking angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, direct vasodilators, and thiazide diuretics. Patients taking calcium channel blockers, had a significantly lower rate of refill failure (38.5%) than for patients taking thiazide diuretics (45.5%). Younger age, medication class, multiple-daily dosing regimen, and fewer provider visits were all found to be significant independent predictors of refill failure, whereas gender and regimen complexity were not significant predictors in this population. Health care systems planning pharmacy-based interventions to improve patient compliance with antihypertensive medication for patients in a Medicaid managed-care program can expect to encounter high levels of refill failure and may want to target enrollee subgroups by age, medication class, or dosing regimen for intensive intervention efforts.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Asian American and Pacific Islander Provider and Community Concerns with Rapid Managed Care Growth.

BACKGROUND: Minority communities are becoming increasingly concerned that the rapid growth of managed care activities will lead to a deterioration of their limited health care services and of the diminution of the primary health care providers. A generally expressed opinion among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans (APIAs) is that where there are under­represented physicians groups, especially those who are culturally competent and ethnically sensitive, any health care reform strategy to control cost by cutting program funds is likely to compound the problem of under­representation of the provider community, and would result in greater medically under­serviced areas and populations. In contrast, where there are culturally competent and ethnically sensitive physicians serving their communities, health care is more accessible and of better quality. Physicians and other health care providers working in under­served APIA areas are concerned with the loss of their patients to newly formed health maintenance organizations, the increased hassle of paperwork, the increased levels of patient care activities, and the disincentives and erosion of their financial base. In California, the number of managed care programs leads the nations. Moreover, in seventeen California counties, the Medicaid program is being streamlined under a managed care delivery system. The concern among API communities is the loss of access, availability and acceptability of care. Research and data collection on these issues need to be conducted to assess and evaluate the impact of managed care delivery on the health of these populations. METHODS: Information from literature reviews, data from community health centers, 1990 Census data compiled and analyzed by the Asian and Pacific Islander Center for Census Information and Services (ACCIS) program at the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum, and personal communications were the sources of information for this presentation. FINDINGS: The provision of health care services will be more difficult as the managed care movement grows. The supply of physicians providing primary care to the APIA communities is expected to become more acute. The number of primary care physicians is not sufficient to meet the needs of the APIA communities. CONCLUSIONS: The delivery of medical services must be culturally competent and ethnically sensitive. Special interventions are suggested to improve access, acceptability, and appropriateness of health services for the APIA populations. A mentorship program, beginning in the states with the largest numbers of APIAs targeting high school, college, and post-graduate students is suggested as a method to heighten students' sense of social responsibility, and to create the desire and incentive to work in under­served APIA communities.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2000

Mandated managed care for blind and disabled Medicaid beneficiaries in a county-organized health system: implementation challenges and access issues.

OBJECTIVES: The challenges of Medicaid managed care organizations that serve blind and disabled members are reviewed. Beneficiary satisfaction and access to care are assessed, and access problems are identified and resolved or minimized to the greatest degree possible. STUDY DESIGN: Formative evaluation consisting of a mailed survey and follow-up telephone outreach contacts. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A written survey was sent to more than 18,000 Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiary members who were blind or disabled, with 5574 recipients responding. Of these, 1981 members identified issues that warranted 2106 follow-up telephone calls. RESULTS: Survey responses showed that beneficiaries had limited experience with managed care and were generally satisfied with access to primary care. The healthcare system used the study findings to develop focused training programs and materials, to initiate a special needs liaison program, and to revise guidelines to simplify and standardize authorization procedures for obtaining medical supplies and repairing equipment. CONCLUSIONS: Factors found to be associated with the success of a Medicaid managed care program serving blind and disabled beneficiaries include educating the members and providers for better understanding of managed care, incorporating collaborative service improvement activities, and documenting trends.

Aid to Families with Dependent Children↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Managed care and children with special health care needs.

Providing care to children with special health care needs within a managed care environment presents special challenges for providers and parents alike. The goal of managed care is to contain costs by encouraging or requiring members to obtain services through a designated network. In managed care programs, children and families may experience limited access to specialized care and services, along with decreased fragmentation inherent in fee-for-service care. For providers, managed care creates financial risk while offering opportunities for acquiring new skills and knowledge. The primary care provider assumes a central role in creating a medical home that links the child and family to a single provider who is an ongoing resource and partner in care. To provide comprehensive, coordinated, family-centered care, the medical home provider must learn about a variety of services available within the community and guide parents in learning how to access the services that meet their child's needs. Pediatric nurse practitioners can play a significant role in ensuring that children receive the most appropriate care.

Child↗
PubMed2005

Medication treatment patterns for adults with schizophrenia in Medicaid managed care in Colorado.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the impact of Colorado's Medicaid mental health managed care program on patterns of antipsychotic medication treatment among persons with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. These patterns were compared with patterns of psychosocial treatment and a measure of symptom change. METHODS: Changes in study measures over time in two areas of the state where the policy intervention was implemented were compared with changes in measures in areas where it was not implemented. The study sample consisted of 235 consumers. Measures of antipsychotic medication treatment included any use in a given period, months in which a prescription was filled, and use of second-generation antipsychotics. Psychosocial treatment was measured by any use and expenditures per user. The schizophrenia subscale of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale was used to measure consumer outcomes. RESULTS: Probabilities of antipsychotic use in the managed care areas were stable or increased compared with the other areas. The average number of months with filled prescriptions was unchanged. Consumers served under managed care were less likely to use psychosocial treatment, and additional decreases in treatment costs were noted in one area. Difference scores for the schizophrenia subscale showed no change or positive effects for the managed care areas. CONCLUSIONS: Within the Colorado managed care program, antipsychotic medication therapy was not impaired, despite significant decreases in the continuity or intensity of psychosocial treatment, and no reduction in symptom levels was noted. Mental health managed care does not inherently impair medication therapy. Patterns of medication use appeared to be better indicators of program success than psychosocial treatment patterns and were more consistent with outcomes.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Medicaid managed care in New York City: recent performance and coming challenges.

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated New York City's voluntary Medicaid managed care program in terms of health care use and access. METHODS: A survey of adults in Medicaid managed care and fee-for-service programs during 1996-1997 was analyzed. RESULTS: Responses showed significant favorable risk selection into managed care but little difference in use of health care services. Although some measures of access favored managed care, many others showed no difference between the study groups. CONCLUSIONS: The early impact of mandatory enrollment will probably include an increase in the average risk of managed care enrollees with little change in beneficiary use and access to care.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Medicaid managed care. From cost savings to accountability and quality improvement.

Medicaid managed care is a work in progress. This article provides a brief historical overview of Medicaid managed care from the early 1980s to the late 1990s and offers insight into some of the major operational, fiscal, and political realities of implementing managed care in a Medicaid context. This article also attempts to show that a major advantage of managed care is having a more accountable health care system. Accountability can bring quality improvements to a system that often lacked the ability to measure performance and results under Medicaid fee-for-service. Subsequent articles in this journal demonstrate how states working together with managed care organizations and quality review organizations can better define, measure, and use quality information to improve their Medicaid managed care programs.

Cost Savings↗
PubMed2000

Monitoring quality in Medicaid managed care: accomplishments and challenges at the year 2000.

This paper reviews the major developments during the late 1990s in quality monitoring for Medicaid managed care and offers an assessment of major challenges faced at the year 2000. We highlight the dramatic increase in activities to ensure and improve quality in Medicaid managed care. Prior to these developments, little was known about the actual level of quality of care. Thus, a major accomplishment of the late 1990s is that we now know more about quality, through some key indicators, and that states and plans have implemented activities and structures designed to improve quality. Despite this achievement, there is still a critical gap in our understanding about which activities and structures effectively improve the health of beneficiaries. There are also three operational challenges. First, as state quality assurance and improvement systems become increasingly comprehensive, states are challenged to keep them well coordinated and well targeted to key issues. Second, the dynamics of both plan turnover and enrollment-including steep drops in Medicaid enrollment-present a challenge for measuring and improving quality. A third challenge is to ensure that quality assurance and improvement programs work for enrollees with special health care needs. Finally, devoting sufficient resources to quality monitoring and improvement is a challenge for both states and plans since managed care programs are expected to save money as well as improve quality.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

The benefits of HMO community benefits programs.

Managed care is becoming the dominant mode of health care coverage, and health maintenance organizations (HMOs) are playing a key role in the delivery of health care within the evolving, cost-competitive system. However, in this cost-cutting arena, do HMOs have responsibility for health services to communities which extends beyond their enrolled populations? Do HMO community benefits programs have significant impact on the uninsured or the related problem of paying for uncompensated care? The Massachusetts Attorney General believed so and developed the first set of voluntary guidelines in the nation for HMOs to follow in developing community benefits programs. This study reports on the initial year of the program and raises important policy questions regarding the responsibility HMOs have to the communities apart from the population they contract with, and the extent to which communities benefit from HMO community benefits programs.

Community Health Planning↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Decision matrix for selection of patients for a home infusion therapy program.

Managed care and escalating healthcare costs have affected all aspects of clinical practice. Today's practitioners must evaluate each patient and clinical situation to select the appropriate intravenous delivery venue to improve the chances of producing a satisfactory outcome. The IV venue discussed in this article will focus on the key elements of identifying patients who will benefit from receiving pharmacomedical services in a home infusion therapy program.

Drug Therapy↗
PubMed1998

Making managed care work for people with disabilities.

Over two years ago, with states increasingly moving to contract with managed care organizations for the care of people with disabilities and chronic illnesses, States of Health explored the concerns of some of these health care consumers and their families. Worries centered on the health plans' lack of experience serving disabled and chronically ill patients; the prevalence of a medical model of care, which undervalues services that enable a person to maintain a high quality of daily life; and incentives to cut costs that would result in inappropriate or negligent care. Little has been resolved since then. A few health plans--mostly small specialty plans--serve as oases of best practices, but their attitudes and ways of operating are far from adoption across the board. Advocates argue that the best targeted, most reliable consumer protections involve consumers themselves in the planning, design, and implementation of managed care programs.

Community Health Planning↗
PubMed2003

Guideline recommendations for treatment of schizophrenia: the impact of managed care.

BACKGROUND: Medicaid-managed care has been shown to reduce the number and length of psychiatric hospitalizations, but little is known about the clinical and social consequences of such managed care programs. The purpose of this study was to compare the treatment of schizophrenia for disabled Medicaid beneficiaries who were and were not enrolled in managed care. METHODS: This was a prospective observational study of patients who sought care for a psychiatric crisis from June 7, 1997, to May 13, 1999. Patients were followed up for 6 months. Inpatient and outpatient mental health facilities in Massachusetts were studied. The participants included 420 adult Medicaid beneficiaries, aged 24 to 64 years, who were treated for schizophrenia; 784 eligible beneficiaries were originally contacted and invited to participate (53.6% response). A private managed behavioral health care organization administered the Medicaid mental health benefit for about half the patients in the study. The other half were enrolled in the dually insured fee-for-service Medicare/Medicaid plan. The main outcome measures were adherence to the Schizophrenia Patient Outcomes Research Team treatment recommendations from inpatient and outpatient medical records, self-reported quality of interpersonal interactions between patient and clinician, self-reported care experiences and outcomes, and clinician-reported outcomes. RESULTS: There were no differences between the managed care plan and the unmanaged fee-for-service plan in adherence to the schizophrenia treatment guidelines. However, much outpatient care in both programs was inconsistent with treatment guidelines. Inpatient treatment was far more likely to conform to guidelines than outpatient treatment. Patient ratings of their care were positive and not different between plans. Clinical outcome and health-related quality of life were not different between plans. CONCLUSIONS: A major change in Massachusetts in the way mental health care is organized and financed had neither a negative nor a positive effect on care quality. However, adherence to nationally accepted guidelines for care was only modest, suggesting a need to improve the delivery of treatment to the most disabled highest-risk adults with schizophrenia.

Adult↗