Managed care: what to expect as Medicare-HMO enrollment grows. 1.
Managed care is restructuring the American health care system and is beginning to make inroads into the Medicare-eligible population. Advantages of managed care for older patients include an emphasis on prevention, more flexibility in care delivery, and fewer restrictions and wider coverage (eg, prescriptions) than Medicare fee-for-service, and opportunities to develop measures for quality of care. Disadvantages include limitations on access and choice and a potential for professional conflict of interest. Early managed care enrollment favors the healthy "young-old;" questions remain about whether HMOs can provide quality care to the frail elderly with complicated and expensive health care needs.
Butler
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RN
International Longevity Center (U.S.), New York, USA.
Sherman
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FT
Rhinehart
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E
Klein
S
S
Rother
J C
JC
D000368:Aged; D005249:Fees and Charges; D005544:Forecasting; D018166:Health Care Reform; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D006278:Medicare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends*; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D014481:United States