The impact of managed care on the mix of vulnerable populations served by community health centers.
This article examined the impact of managed care involvement on vulnerable populations served by community health centers (CHCs), while controlling for center rural-urban location and size, and found that centers involved in managed care have served a significantly smaller proportion of uninsured patients but a higher proportion of Medicaid users than those not involved in managed care. The results suggest that the increase in Medicaid managed care patients may lead to a reduced capacity to care for the uninsured, thus hampering CHCs from expanding access to health care for the medically indigent.
Shi
L
L
Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health and Hygiene, Johns Hopkins Primary Care Policy Center for the Underserved, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Politzer
R M
RM
Regan
J
J
Lewis-Idema
D
D
Falik
M
M
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003151:Community Health Centers / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008484:Medicaid / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017057:Medically Uninsured / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012051:Reimbursement Mechanisms; D013221:State Health Plans; D014481:United States; D014600:Utilization Review