HMO marketing and selection bias: are TEFRA HMOs skimming?

Boutique to Booming: Medicare Managed Care and the Private Path to Policy Change

In 2014, Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment surpassed 30 percent of eligible beneficiaries. Twenty-five years earlier, enrollment hovered at just 3 percent. The expansion of private Medicare plans presents a puzzling instance of policy change within Medicare-a program long held to be a quintessential case of policy stasis. This article investigates the policy features that made Medicare susceptible to this dramatic policy shift, as well as the processes by which the initial policy change remade the politics of Medicare and solidified the MA program. The first enrollment surge occurred in the absence of a proximate legislative or administrative change. Instead, increased spending and expanded benefits were the result of the interaction of new market dynamics with an existing legislative framework-demonstrating an expansionary form of policy drift. The 1982 Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act created a policy space that gave the new and lightly controlled managed care industry considerable operational discretion. As the interests of the government's private partners changed in response to new market dynamics, a change occurred in the output and performance of the Medicare managed care program. As enrollment and spending increased, Medicare's politics were remade by the political empowerment of the managed care industry and the creation of a new subconstituency of beneficiaries.

The relationship between health plan advertising and market incentives: evidence of risk-selective behavior

Medicare beneficiaries are now facing advertising from an unprecedented number of health plans that are offering prescription drug coverage. Previous Medicare managed care efforts have been undermined by risk selection, the practice of enrolling healthier and therefore less costly patients. In this study we explore how the content of health plan advertising is related to the competitiveness of the health plan market. We find that increased competition is associated with greater use of advertising that targets healthier patients.

Patient satisfaction profiling of individual physicians: impact of panel status

RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

Evaluation of physician performance is increasingly based on patient satisfaction. However, few data are available regarding the extent to which individual physician profiles might be influenced by factors such as whether a physician's practice is open or closed. We evaluated whether panel status (whether or not a physician is accepting new patients) is associated with patient satisfaction with their primary care physician (PCP).

METHODS

Cross-sectional analysis of patient satisfaction surveys. Surveys were available for 1,750 patients cared for by 69 PCPs. Patient satisfaction with their PCP was determined based on a composite of six questions derived from the Medical Outcomes Study. We used Generalized Estimating Equations to adjust for physician level variation.

RESULTS

Patients of closed-panel physicians were more likely to rate their satisfaction with the provider as 'Excellent' or 'Very Good' compared to patients of open-panel physicians (78% vs. 69%, P <0.0001). After adjusting for satisfaction with the practice site, provider years in practice, managed care coverage, provider productivity, and patient race, the association between a closed panel and satisfaction remained significant (odds ratio 1.60, 95% confidence interval 1.10-2.31).

CONCLUSIONS

Individual physicians' patient satisfaction data are confounded by factors not likely to be adjusted for in available profiles. After adjusting for other variables, physicians with closed panels still had better patient satisfaction compared to physicians with open panels. Further research is necessary to determine if panel status might also confound patient satisfaction.

Managed care and Medicare reform

A primary goal of many Medicare reform proposals is to move program beneficiaries into managed care plans operated by private insurance companies. Advocates contend that managed care plans, especially health maintenance organizations (HMOs), can save substantial money for the federal government, while also improving the quality of medical care and scope of covered benefits for Medicare enrollees. Should Medicare follow the private sector by adopting managed care-based reforms? This article summarized the claims that are made for and against incorporating managed care into Medicare, and reviews evidence from the program's experience with HMOs on financial savings, benefits coverage, and quality of care. This evidence raises concerns regarding the ability of HMOs to provide adequate care for chronically ill Medicare patients. Moreover, there is considerable uncertainty about the future performance of managed care plans. I therefore conclude that policy makers should move cautiously in embracing managed care and that Medicare should not adopt financial incentives, such as vouchers, that are intended to push beneficiaries into HMOs. However, Medicare beneficiary enrollment in managed care plans is likely to increase substantially in coming years regardless of public policy. It is therefore critical for Medicare to pursue policies that protect the quality of care for elderly and disabled patients in managed care plans; curtail excessive payments to HMOs that result from favorable selection of healthier enrollees; and preserve the current fee-for-service Medicare program.