Capitation in managed care.
The current trend in the health-care setting is a change from indemnification to capitation for services and to negotiation of reduced payments to health-care providers. Although attempts to socialize medicine in the United States have failed, the medical establishment will be forced to be scaled back because of the oversupply of physicians, an excessive number of hospital beds, and exorbitant costs for services. In addition, the insurance industry will experience attrition as developments in technology enhance the ability to quantify and forecast the health status of individuals and populations. The risk will then shift from the insurance companies to the providers of care (physicians and hospitals--those who were perceived to have benefited in the past by accruing capital and are now considered able to bear the risk). A key factor in the future of medicine is the accumulation and manipulation of data. Those who control the data first will have an advantage in controlling market penetration and market share.
Schramm
C J
CJ
Greenspring Advisors, Inc., Towson, MD 21204, USA.