Recently added articles from Managed Healthcare:
Pick one side of the road and then stick to it
Dec 01, 2000; ... Except for the affluent very few people can afford the price of freedom. I hate gray. It's the color of ambivalence and indecision. In Life's great fork in the road, it is neither the one more traveled nor the one less traveled. And rather than serving as a compromise, it ends up ...
Americans confused about managed care
Dec 01, 2000; ... They lack confidence to choose a plan and end up dissatisfied with employer's choice WASHINGTON, D. C.-The public is more concerned about rising medical costs and has little confidence that today's healthcare system can address their fears, according to a survey by the Employee Benefit ...
Defined contribution is coming, albeit slowly
Dec 01, 2000; ... Uwe Reinhardt to health plans: market and recruit to individuals rather than larger employers NATIONAL REPORTS-The predicted move toward defined contribution plans hasn't happened with the speed some predicted, but it is definitely waiting in the wings, according to many analysts ....
States battle for drug discounts
Dec 01, 2000; ... WASHINGTON, D.C.-With Congress doing little to address widespread complaints about high pharmaceutical prices, consumers are taking the campaign for drug price relief to state capitols. A heated battle is taking place in Maine. That state legislature adopted the Maine Rx program last January ...
Congress backs drug imports
Dec 01, 2000; ... WASHINGTON, D.C.-Democratic gains on Capitol Hill are expected to put pressure on the FDA to move swiftly to implement the drug import policy that Congress adopted a few months ago. This legislation, which aims to encourage prescription drug importing into the U.S., was proposed by ...
Medication errors most frequent--and deadliest
Dec 01, 2000; ... Operative/postoperative complications and delays in treatment are other major medical errors, survey shows MARBLEHEAD, MD-Medication errors are the most frequently occurring and deadliest type of medical error, shows a recent survey by Patient Safety Monitor's parent company HcPro ....
Ratings firm pans Medicare HMOs
Dec 01, 2000; ... Procrastinators might face multiple system shutdowns unless they start preparing now WASHINGTON, D. C.-Medicare beneficiaries who find themselves dropped by an HMO should avoid joining another managed care plan, warns Weiss Ratings chairman Martin Weiss. Following the recent wave of ...
Top five healthcare issues facing next president
Dec 01, 2000; ... NATIONAL REPORT-Here are the top five healthcare issues likely to be confronted by the new Administration, according to BCBSHealthissues.com: * The Uninsured. The U.S. Census Bureau shows that 42.5 million Americans lacked health insurance in 1999. * Medicare Reform. A study by ...
Voters address the healthcare issue
Dec 01, 2000; ... Washington, D.C. -In a number of state initiatives on November election ballots, Americans backed measures to extend healthcare coverage to the uninsured while turning away from big-government healthcare programs. In Massachusetts, voters rejected measures designed to establish a ...
Election 2000 brings no consensus to health reform
Dec 01, 2000; ... Access and cost are concerns, but voters are divided on HMO reform and drug coverage Last month's extremely close race for the White House and for control of Congress made only one thing clear: There is no national consensus on health policy or Medicare reform. Democrats failed tc ...
Take the bull by the horns
Dec 01, 2000; ... Consumers fight for control of their healthcare options It looks like consumerism is here to stay in the healthcare industry. What's less certain, according to industry observers, is where the trend will lead in terms of the kinds of health plans that employers will be offering in their ...
A new level for tech
Dec 01, 2000; ... New exhibits and sessions are geared to encourage "synchronicity" Medical device technology, long viewed as a possible savior for the ills of the current U.S. healthcare system, is on the tips of tongues in the managed care arena and will be on display at this year's Healthcare ...
PBMs take on a different role in managed care
Dec 01, 2000; ... Consumerism and government regs are challenges for managing the pharmacy benefit Looking back over the past several years, it's a truism to say that change in managed care has come at a fast pace. But what can we say about the changes that lie ahead? Without a crystal ball or handy ...
Doing it right doesn't always mean doing it yourself
Dec 01, 2000; ... Comorbidities and other complications can make outsourcing DM a wise option Although it's one of the most talked-about trends in the healthcare industry, the term "disease management" still means different things to different people. For some, it can simply consist of case ...
PPMCs tie provider pay to overall company performance
Dec 01, 2000; ... Best-performing medical groups use the company's overall performance as an incentive The history of medical group formation and management in the United States has been marked by a number of identifiable phases. Initially, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, there were a number of ...
Plans go the extra mile to achieve NCQA excellence
Dec 01, 2000; ... The best provide a culture of measurement, put physicians in the loop and pay homage to customer satisfaction Developing criteria for winning plans is no simple task. To the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), a weighty part of the evaluation is meeting high-quality ...
Plans go to market with a human touch
Dec 01, 2000; ... BCBSF lets members spread the good word; Blue Shield of California takes the personalized Web site path Colin, 58, and Peggy Gillis, 57, retirees living in Milton, Fla., are just every-day people. But they are serving as the public relations voice for their HMO, Blue Cross Blue ...
Big fizzles, big bangs and bigger confusion
Dec 01, 2000; ... Y2K was one for the Internet record books; wireless might be the hot story in 2001 As Year 2000 draws to a close, it seems clear that the Internet is more tightly enmeshed than ever in the business landscape. This seems an appropriate time to reflect on past trends and consider future ...
Abortion pill spurs debate
Dec 01, 2000; ... National Reports-Since receiving FDA approval in late September, the abortion-inducing pill known as RU-486 has sparked questions regarding its role in managed care. According to an Associated Press report, leading health insurers including Aetna, United HealthCare and Cigna will cover ...
Is reproduction a medical right or a lifestyle choice?
Nov 01, 2000; ... The fact that we can do something doesn't necessarily mean that we should. Is medical technology advances, it makes more and more things "possible." We can take a nearly blind person, fire a laser into his eyes, and restore them to near-perfect vision. With the complete mapping of the ...