Credentialing and public accountability: a central role for board certification.
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Certification↗
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Results for “Managed Competition”
Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.
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Health care reform: informing difficult choices.
During the last decade, policy makers in a large number of countries have attempted various reforms of their health care systems. Health care reform has been described as a 'global epidemic' (Klein, 1993). All health care reforms consist of very complex policy choices, some of which are examined in this article. After an introductory exploration of ideological issues, the objectives of health care reformers are considered. Three major policy objectives of health care reform are examined: cost containment; efficiency; and, equity. Three types of reform which have been advocated are also considered: public planning; market regulation; and provider-advocated reforms such as a 'basic package' with copayments and alternative means of finance. Finally, appropriate features of efficient health care reform are suggested, addressing explicit policy goals.
Cost Control↗
Beyond health care cost containment: creating collaborative arrangements among the stakeholders.
The causes of escalating healthcare costs in the United States and many other industrial countries are well documented. Less evident are the structural factors that underlie the increases and their implications for the future. This paper discusses these structural factors, puts them in the context of the healthcare marketplace, and proposes a way to address them using a collaborative arrangement among all stakeholders in a healthcare system, called value-based partnering. To be successful, the effort must include not only final purchasers (such as employers or Medicare in the USA) but all stakeholders in a healthcare system. Each stakeholder must develop a value equation in terms that are meaningful to the others, and must identify opportunities for value-enhancing partnerships. The paper also identifies some of the impediments to value-based partnering and discusses ways to overcome them, including the need for senior management intervention within some stakeholder groups, and the importance of collaborative discussions among all stakeholders.
Aged↗
New Zealand health care financing 'reforms' perceived ideological context.
Health sector financing reforms that have been ongoing over the last decade in most developed countries are rooted in philosophical terms in the ideology of economic rationalism. The ideology suggests that it is possible to artificially create markets for activities in contexts where markets do not develop naturally, and that the creation of these artificial markets leads to resource allocations that are both more efficient and more equitable than historical arrangements. The application of the ideology to New Zealand's health sector has generated some benefit--for example, a more rational approach to influencing the decisions of self-interest health care providers; but it has also generated some costs--for example, on ideological grounds it has brought into question the non-market rationales for maintaining a national health service system.
Financing, Government↗
Developing a marketing function in public healthcare systems: a framework for action.
The scope of this paper is to analyse the contribution that a marketing function can bring to the wide variety of healthcare organizations operating in public health systems (PHSs). While extensive research on marketing applied to healthcare services has been elaborated in competitive and managed care contexts, marketing is a rather new issue in PHSs and little research has been conducted to assess its relevance and benefits in these environments. This study tackles that gap and is based on a review of the current literature in order to provide answers to the following points: - definition of the scopes of marketing and of the elements that affect its incorporation in the healthcare sector; - conceptualization of the possible approaches to marketing by health organizations operating in PHSs; - discussion of the resulting framework for action.
Health Facilities↗
An examination of flexible spending accounts.
This paper develops a framework for analyzing flexible spending account (FSA) participation and usage. We explore patterns of FSA usage using data from a benefits firm for 1996 including an examination of types of FSA expenditures and their timing. We estimate some simple econometric models of the participation decision and also the decision of how much to put into an FSA. Several pieces of evidence suggest that much of an FSA election amount is based on foreknowledge of expenditures. We also find that participants tend to spend their election amount early, thus obtaining an interest-free loan.
Community Participation↗
The impact of health plan report cards on managed care enrollment.
How does the release of health plan performance ratings influence employee health plan choice? A natural experiment at General Motors (GM) Corporation provides valuable evidence on this question. During the 1997 open enrollment period, GM disseminated a health plan report card for the first time. By comparing 1996 and 1997 enrollment patterns, our analysis estimates the impact of the report card information while accounting for fixed, unobserved plan traits. Results indicate that employees are less likely to enroll in plans requiring relatively high out-of-pocket contributions. Results with respect to report card ratings suggest that individuals avoid health plans with many below average ratings.
Benchmarking↗
Belgium: risk adjustment and financial responsibility in a centralised system.
Since 1995 Belgian sickness funds are partially financed through a risk adjustment system and are held partially financially responsible for the difference between their actual and their risk-adjusted expenditures. However, they did not get the necessary instruments for exerting a real influence on expenditures and the health insurance market has not been opened for new entrants. At the same time the sickness funds have powerful tools for risk selection, because they also dominate the market for supplementary health insurance. The present risk-adjustment system is based on the results of a regression analysis with aggregate data. The main proclaimed purpose of this system is to guarantee a fair treatment to all the sickness funds. Until now the danger of risk selection has not been taken seriously. Consumer mobility has remained rather low. However, since the degree of financial responsibility is programmed to increase in the near future, the potential profits from cream skimming will increase.
Belgium↗
Needs for further improvement: risk adjustment in the German health insurance system.
The German risk adjustment mechanism is used only within the public system. It was introduced in two steps, 1994 and 1995. Because of the income-related contribution, which the insured pay directly to their sickness fund, income of the insured is equalized by the mechanism and causes the biggest part of the payments among the sickness funds. On the expenditure side age, gender, disability and entitlement for sickness allowances are used as risk adjusters. The mechanism is retrospective, calculating average costs for each of the 670 risk cells defined by the risk adjusters and using these "standardized expenditures" as a base for the payment a single sickness fund gets because of its risk structure. There do still exist incentives for risk selection. The experience shows that mostly the young and healthy are willing to change sickness funds motivated by lower contribution rates. This can be used and is used for self-selection. Another cause of risk selection is regional differences. The central suggestion of an expertise on behalf of the German Ministry of Health on experiences and improvement proposals is the change to a direct modeling of morbidity.
Actuarial Analysis↗
Risk adjustment and risk selection on the sickness fund insurance market in five European countries.
From the mid-1990s citizens in Belgium, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands and Switzerland have a guaranteed periodic choice among risk-bearing sickness funds, who are responsible for purchasing their care or providing them with medical care. The rationale of this arrangement is to stimulate the sickness funds to improve efficiency in health care production and to respond to consumers' preferences. To achieve solidarity, all five countries have implemented a system of risk-adjusted premium subsidies (or risk equalization across risk groups), along with strict regulation of the consumers' direct premium contribution to their sickness fund. In this article we present a conceptual framework for understanding risk adjustment and comparing the systems in the five countries. We conclude that in the case of imperfect risk adjustment-as is the case in all five countries in the year 2001-the sickness funds have financial incentives for risk selection, which may threaten solidarity, efficiency, quality of care and consumer satisfaction. We expect that without substantial improvements in the risk adjustment formulae, risk selection will increase in all five countries. The issue is particularly serious in Germany and Switzerland. We strongly recommend therefore that policy makers in the five countries give top priority to the improvement of the system of risk adjustment. That would enhance solidarity, cost-control, efficiency and client satisfaction in a system of competing, risk-bearing sickness funds.
Capitation Fee↗
Public policy and evidence-based practice.
The time has come to add to the body of EBP implementation knowledge at multiple levels, including knowledge about policy, program priorities, clinician practice, consumer adherence, and family member support. Implementation at the policy level, however, is primary and paramount. The national initiative supporting EBP implementation is one of the most important innovations on the mental health horizon. It will serve as the testing ground for what can be learned about bridging the gap between science and service. This important initiative will not go far if it is not supported by mental health policies--at state and federal levels--that create the organizational and financial incentives to implement EBPs. In addition, it will be a time-limited activity if it also does not yield lessons about how to adapt to new evidence and on-going systemic changes. Organizations must be flexible and able to learn and adapt. The promise of decades of research must be realized in practice. There is an opportunity to combine quality improvement with accountability through performance measurement and the implementation of effective new services and treatments. The Surgeon General simultaneously identified this research's promise and documented its shortcomings. His report outlines courses of action for policymakers that should guide clinicians away from service disparities and toward the implementation of EBP.
Age Factors↗
Ethics in managed care.
The current era of managed costs and care create ethical dilemmas based on economic constraints and incorporation of principles of distributive justice. Traditional ethical concerns related to confidentiality, conflicts of interest, double agentry, and honesty are complicated by interference in the doctor-patient relationship caused by intrusive utilization management. National health reform must take these issues seriously to ensure that the "cure" promised by such reform efforts is not worse than the disease. The challenge for psychiatrists is to adapt to these constraints without losing site of traditional medical ethical positions. Once the ethics become diseased, no cure may exist at all.
Adult↗
[The Oregon state health plan for access to health services: the context, elaboration and characteristics].
The Oregon Health Plan is the first explicit and public attempt to establish the priority of health services by a systematic assessment of their cost-effectiveness. The need to solve major health problems such as increasing costs or the effectiveness and equity of health services as well as the debate developed around the plan, deserves a detailed review. This article describes the health care context where the plan took place, reviews the most important elements of its elaboration, analyzes methods used and summarizes the main reactions to the plan.
Cost-Benefit Analysis↗
Transforming health sectors: new logics of organizing in the New Zealand health system.
This paper develops a relational analysis (drawing on the insights of historical institutionalism and economic sociology) of the ongoing process of radical health sector restructuring in New Zealand. The original 'reforms', based on a 'purchaser provider' split, are outlined so as to emphasize their politically consequential ambiguity: was restructuring about revitalizing an essentially public health system or about creating the basis for an eventually private health system with a residual state role? The actual process of restructuring is then traced, emphasizing the responses it has evoked from differently situated actors within the health sector as this is entwined with the political system. The focus is on explaining the largely unintended consequences that have resulted, including the abandonment or significant modification of most of the originally enacted forms of organization together with the emergence of new organizational forms, initiated by providers, and largely unanticipated by the restructurers.
Government↗
Managed care in Latin America: the new common sense in health policy reform.
This article presents the results of the comparative research project, "Managed Care in Latin America: Its Role in Health System Reform." Conducted by teams in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, and the United States, the study focused on the exportation of managed care, especially from the United States, and its adoption in Latin American countries. Our research methods included qualitative and quantitative techniques. The adoption of managed care reflects the process of transnationalization in the health sector. Our findings demonstrate the entrance of the main multinational corporations of finance capital into the private sector of insurance and health services, and these corporations' intention to assume administrative responsibilities for state institutions and to secure access to medical social security funds. International lending agencies, especially the World Bank, support the corporatization and privatization of health care services, as a condition of further loans to Latin American countries. We conclude that this process of change, which involves the gradual adoption of managed care as an officially favored policy, reflects ideologically based discourses that accept the inexorable nature of managed care reforms.
Diffusion of Innovation↗
Emerging themes in efforts to improve the quality of health care: overview.
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Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S.↗
Assessing nursing and technology. Introduction.
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Economic Competition↗
Extreme risk--the new corporate proposition for physicians.
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Economic Competition↗