title: Managed care: what to expect as Medicare-HMO enrollment grows. 1.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: International Longevity Center (U.S.), New York, USA.
authors.forename: R N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Butler
authors.forename: F T
authors.initials: FT
authors.lastname: Sherman
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rhinehart
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Rother
mesh_terms: 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