Who treats medical conditions more cost efficiently?
Total costs in HMOs are 10% to 40% below those in indemnity plans; however, investigators have not examined the types of medical conditions that HMO providers treat more cost efficiently than indemnity providers. The present study was designed to evaluate if managed care health plan specialists treat complex conditions as cost efficiently as the HMO primary care providers treated the less-complex conditions and, if not, why?
Cave
D G
DG
Hewitt Associates, Newport Beach, CA 92660.
Abel
J D
JD
D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003625:Data Collection; D004470:Economics, Medical; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational / Q000191:economics; D017050:Episode of Care; D006264:Health Benefit Plans, Employee / Q000191:economics* / Q000592:standards; D007193:Independent Practice Associations / Q000191:economics* / Q000592:standards; D008485:Medical Audit / Q000191:economics; D008511:Medicine / Q000592:standards; D009511:New England; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000191:economics* / Q000592:standards; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013038:Specialization