Enrolment procedures and self-selection by patients: evidence from a Polish family practice. (25/179)

This paper examines the consequences of patient enrollment procedures in a capitation-based family practice in Krakow (Poland), where the local city government used two different methods for preparation of patient lists. In the first, the city gave the individuals living within the practice area the option of withdrawing from being enrolled in the practice; in the second, individuals were given the option of enrolling in the practice. These two enrollment procedures, identified as 'active-negative' and 'active-positive' respectively, provide a natural experiment for investigating the effects of an enrollment methodology on the economics of a physician's practice. An examination of the data indicates that self-selecting enrollees utilize significantly greater quantities of health care compared to others, and university educated individuals and individuals more likely to fall ill are more likely to self-select into a practice. The study suggests that in order to reduce demand-side adverse selection, either the system of active-positive enrollment should be modified, or capitation rates should be risk-adjusted by health status rather than by demographic variables only. The policy implications of this study become even more significant as more and more physicians leave their salaried jobs to start state-financed independent practices.  (+info)

Derivation of a needs based capitation formula for allocating prescribing budgets to health authorities and primary care groups in England: regression analysis. (26/179)

OBJECTIVE: To develop a weighted capitation formula for setting target allocations for prescribing expenditures for health authorities and primary care groups in England. DESIGN: Regression analysis relating prescribing costs to the demographic, morbidity, and mortality composition of practice lists. SETTING: 8500 general practices in England. SUBJECTS: Data from the 1991 census were attributed to practice lists on the basis of the place of residence of the practice population. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Variation in age, sex, and temporary resident originated prescribing units (ASTRO(97)-PUs) adjusted net ingredient cost of general practices in England for 1997-8 modelled for the impact of health and social needs after controlling for differences in supply. RESULTS: A needs gradient based on the four variables: permanent sickness, percentage of dependants in no carer households, percentage of students, and percentage of births on practice lists. These, together with supply characteristics, explained 41% of variation in prescribing costs per ASTRO(97)-PU adjusted capita across practices. The latter alone explained about 35% of variation in total costs per head across practices. CONCLUSIONS: The model has good statistical specification and contains intuitively plausible needs drivers of prescribing expenditure. Together with adjustments made for differences in ASTRO(97)-PUs the model is capable of explaining 62% (35%+0.65% (41%)) of variation in prescribing expenditure at practice level. The results of the study have formed the basis for setting target budgets for 1999-2000 allocations for prescribing expenditure for health authorities and primary care groups.  (+info)

What drives Medicare managed care growth? (27/179)

We conducted case studies of four markets--Los Angeles, New York City, Portland (OR), and Tampa-St. Petersburg--to learn more about why Medicare managed care develops differently across the country even when capitation rates are similar. Our analysis highlights the importance of prior managed care history, beneficiary characteristics, supplemental coverage patterns, the form of provider organization, practice patterns, care expectations, and other market characteristics to the development of Medicare managed care. Policymakers seeking to expand Medicare managed care need to go beyond national statistics to understand how local market forces affect its growth.  (+info)

Developing a managed care delivery system for people with HIV/AIDS. (28/179)

Capitated managed care is now a significant part of the healthcare landscape in the United States. Consequently, states across the country are looking to it as a means of lowering their costs for Medicaid recipients. Implementing Medicaid managed care plans, however, requires considerable planning and research to ensure that providers are fairly reimbursed and that patients continue to receive quality care. Efforts to ensure adequate reimbursement and quality care are particularly important for persons with HIV/AIDS and those with other chronic conditions, populations that require considerable healthcare resources and often are covered by Medicaid. The transition to Medicaid managed care can be smoothed through stakeholder input and consideration of the overall healthcare marketplace and political climate, the structure of managed care organizations, the means of informing consumers of their managed care choices, the potential size of the Medicaid patient base, and the need to integrate clinical and social services for patients with HIV/AIDS.  (+info)

Comprehensive HIV services under a capitated reimbursement system: AIDS Healthcare Foundation. (29/179)

The application of capitated managed care systems to Medicaid populations has increased as part of an effort to control healthcare costs. The difficulties of caring for people with HIV and AIDS in the Medicaid population is compounded by the issues of impoverishment and access to care. In this profile, we discuss the rationale for and planning involved with creating the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a community-based program providing comprehensive and coordinated care for people with HIV and AIDS.  (+info)

Developing a managed care delivery system in New York State for Medicaid recipients with HIV. (30/179)

In the state of New York, models of care known as HIV Special Needs Plans (HIV SNPs) are being developed to meet the unique health and medical needs of Medicaid recipients with HIV. Establishing managed care plans for the 80,000 to 100,000 HIV-infected Medicaid recipients residing in the state has required considerable effort, including distributing planning grants to solicit information and recommendations regarding program and fiscal policy; convening a workgroup to facilitate discussions between the state and the provider and consumer communities; conducting a longitudinal survey to assess the impact of managed care on persons with HIV; and developing a longitudinal, person-based, encounter-level database representing the clinical and service utilization histories of more than 100,000 patients for state fiscal years 1990 to 1996. The key fiscal issues identified and discussed were capitation rates, initial capitalization levels, and risk-adjustment mechanisms. Other pertinent issues included the importance of a benefits package supporting a comprehensive, integrated continuum of state-of-the-art services; marketing and enrollment; attention to provider and consumer training and education needs; and interdependence of financial reimbursement and benefits packages. From our experience in New York State, we conclude that a successful model of Medicaid managed care for persons with HIV should build on the existing infrastructure of services, using a collaborative process among government agencies, healthcare providers, and HIV/AIDS consumer communities. A future challenge lies in the implementation of the HIV SNP model and evaluation of its soundness and ability to ensure quality healthcare services.  (+info)

Associations between primary care physician satisfaction and self-reported aspects of utilization management. (31/179)

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between physician-reported utilization management (UM) techniques in capitated physician groups and physician satisfaction with capitated care. STUDY SETTING: 1,138 primary care physicians from 89 California capitated physician groups in 1995. STUDY DESIGN: Eighty percent of physicians (N = 910) responded to a mail survey regarding the UM policies in their groups and their satisfaction with the care they deliver. Physician-reported UM strategies measured included group-mandated preauthorization (number of referrals requiring preauthorization, referral denial rate, and referral turnaround time), group-provided explicit practice guidelines, and group-delivered educational programs regarding capitated care. We also measured two key dimensions of satisfaction with capitated care (multi-item scales): (1) satisfaction with capitated care autonomy and quality, and (2) satisfaction with administrative burden for capitated patients. EXTRACTION METHODS: We constructed two multivariate linear regression models to examine associations between physician-reported UM strategies and physician satisfaction, controlling for demographic and practice characteristics and adjusting for clustering. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Physician-reported denial rate and turnaround time were significantly negatively associated with capitated care satisfaction. Physicians who reported that their groups provided more guidelines were more satisfied on both dimensions, while physicians who reported that their groups sponsored more educational programs were more satisfied with administrative burden. The number of clinical decisions requiring preauthorization was not significantly associated with either dimension of satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians who reported that their groups used UM methods that directly affected their autonomy (high denial rates and long turnaround times) were less satisfied with care for capitated patients. However, a preauthorization policy for referrals or tests was not, in and of itself, associated with satisfaction. Indirect control mechanisms such as guidelines and education were positively associated with satisfaction.  (+info)

Academic health systems management: the rationale behind capitated contracts. (32/179)

OBJECTIVE: To determine why hospitals enter into "capitated" contracts, which often generate accounting losses. The authors' hypothesis is that hospitals coordinate contracts to keep beds full and that in principal, capitated contracts reflect sound capacity management. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: In high-overhead industries, different consumers pay different prices for similar services (e.g., full-fare vs. advanced-purchase plane tickets, full tuition vs. financial aid). Some consumers gain access by paying less than total cost. Hospitals, like other high-overhead business enterprises, must optimize the use of their capacity, amortizing overhead over as many patients as possible. This necessity for enhanced throughput forces hospitals and health systems to discount empty beds, sometimes to the point where they incur accounting losses serving some payors. METHODS: The authors analyzed the cost accounting system at their university teaching hospital to compare hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) lengths of stay (LOS), variable direct costs (VDC), overhead of capitated patients, and reimbursement versus other payors for all hospital discharges (n = 29,036) in fiscal year 1998. The data were analyzed by diagnosis-related groups (DRGs), length of stay (LOS), insurance carrier, proximity to hospital, and discharge disposition. Patients were then distinguished across payor categories based on their resource utilization, proximity to the hospital, DRG, LOS, and discharge status. RESULTS: The mean cost for capitated patients was $4,887, less than half of the mean cost of $10,394 for the entire hospitalized population. The mean capitated reimbursement was $928/day, exceeding the mean daily VDC of $616 but not the total cost of $1,445/day. Moreover, the mean total cost per patient day of treating a capitated patient was $400 less than the mean total cost per day for noncapitated patients. The hospital's capitated health maintenance organization (HMO) patients made up 16. 0% of the total admissions but only 9.4% of the total patient days. Both the mean LOS of 3.4 days and the mean ICU LOS of 0.3 days were significantly different from the overall values of 5.8 days and 1 day, respectively, for the noncapitated population. For patients classified with a DRG with complication who traveled from more than 60 miles away, the mean LOS was 10.7 days and the mean total cost was $21,658. This is in contrast to all patients who traveled greater than 60 miles, who had an LOS of 7.2 days and a mean total cost of $12,569. CONCLUSION: The capitated payor directed the bulk of its subscribers to one hospital (other payors transferred their sicker patients). This was reflected in the capitated group's lower costs and LOS. This stable stream of relatively low-acuity patients enhanced capacity utilization. For capitated patients, the hospital still benefits by recovering the incremental cost (VDC) of treating these patients, and only a portion of the assigned overhead. Thus, in the short run, capitated patients provide a positive economic benefit. Other payors' higher-acuity patients arrive more randomly, place greater strains on capacity, and generate higher overhead costs. This results in differential reimbursement to cover this incremental overhead. Having a portfolio of contracts allows the hospital to optimize capacity both in terms of patient flows and acuity. One risk of operating near capacity is that capitated patients could displace other higher-paying patients.  (+info)