title: Primary Care Sports Medicine in the Managed Care Environment: Coping in Today's Culture.
abstract: Managed care is giving rise to changes in the practice of medicine. These changes can be problematic for physicians who care for athletes on sports teams if team physicians and athletes are not in the same insurance plan. Also, insurance carriers are sometimes unaware of the special needs of athletes. Physicians can function more efficiently in the managed care environment with coping strategies such as joining multiple insurance plans, cultivating referral options, negotiating directly with insurance companies, designating a staff referral specialist, developing sports medicine programs, and allying with other sports medicine physicians.
authors.affiliation: Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, 95112, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Henehan
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jones