Consumers versus managed care: the new class actions.
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The plaintiffs in pending consumer class-action lawsuits against health maintenance organizations (HMOs) should fail in their claims for damages for fraud under federal anti-racketeering legislation. Although HMOs have regularly failed to disclose their business methods and have not strictly honored their contractual coverage promises, the circumstances in which they introduced cost controls into a market sadly lacking them suggest motives not deserving punitive sanctions. Courts could easily find that HMOs violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), however. Injunctive relief compelling more extensive disclosures and clearer contracts might well legitimize HMOs' methods and generally improve the performance of the health care marketplace. (+info)
Creating more effective health plan quality reports for consumers: lessons from a synthesis of qualitative testing.
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OBJECTIVE: Social marketing techniques such as consumer testing have only recently been applied to develop effective consumer health insurance information. This article discusses lessons learned from consumer testing to create consumer plan choice materials. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: Data were collected from 268 publicly and privately insured consumers in three studies between 1994 and 1999. STUDY DESIGN: Iterative testing and revisions were conducted to design seven booklets to help Medicaid, Medicare, and employed consumers choose a health plan. DATA COLLECTION METHODS: Standardized protocols were used in 11 focus groups and 182 interviews to examine the content, comprehension, navigation, and utility of the booklets. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A method is suggested to help consumers narrow their plan choices by breaking down the process into smaller decisions using a set of guided worksheets. CONCLUSION: Implementing these lessons is challenging and not often done well. This article gives examples of evidence-based approaches to address cognitive barriers that designers of consumer health insurance information can adapt to their needs. (+info)
Reporting of CAHPS quality information to medicare beneficiaries.
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OBJECTIVES: To assess which Consumer Assessment of Health Plans (CAHPS) survey measures Medicare beneficiaries find the most meaningful, how beneficiaries and information intermediaries interpret different formats for presenting CAHPS information, and how beneficiaries have reacted to the CAHPS information included in the annual mailing to beneficiaries called Medicare & You 2000. DATA SOURCES: Fourteen focus groups of beneficiaries and State Health Insurance Assistance Program counselors, more than 200 cognitive interviews, and 122 mall-intercept interviews with beneficiaries were conducted from spring 1998 through winter 2000. STUDY DESIGN: In 1998 focus groups and cognitive interviews were conducted with Medicare beneficiaries and State Health Insurance Assistance Program counselors to determine which CAHPS measures to report to Medicare beneficiaries and how to report this information. In 1999 additional focus groups and mall-intercept interviews were conducted to determine which measures to include in Medicare & You 2000. To obtain feedback on the CAHPS information in Medicare & You 2000 additional focus groups were conducted in winter 2000. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Focus group participants indicated that getting the care they need quickly, having access to specialists, and communicating well with doctors were more important to them than nonmedical characteristics of plans. Most beneficiaries had problems interpreting quality information. Many misinterpreted star charts, and while bar charts appear easier to read, many beneficiaries still had trouble interpreting the information on these charts. Most beneficiaries did not consider quality information important to them and most were unaware of the availability of CAHPS information. CONCLUSIONS: Many challenges lie ahead in making quality information meaningful to Medicare beneficiaries. These challenges include increasing awareness of the existence of this information, educating beneficiaries about how this information can help in choosing a health plan, continuing to simplify reporting formats, assuring beneficiaries that this information comes from a credible source, and providing guidance to beneficiaries about how quality information can help with health care decisions. (+info)
Amendments to Summary Plan Description regulations. Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, Labor. Final rule.
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This document contains a final rule amending the regulations governing the content of the Summary Plan Description (SPD) required to be furnished to employee benefit plan participants and beneficiaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA). These amendments implement information disclosure recommendations of the President's Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry, as set forth in their November 20, 1997, report, "Consumer Bill of Rights and Responsibilities." Specifically, the amendments clarify benefit, medical provider, and other information required to be disclosed in, or as part of, the SPD of a group health plan and repeal the limited exemption with respect to SPDs of welfare plans providing benefits through qualified health maintenance organizations (HMOs). In addition, this document contains several amendments updating and clarifying provisions relating to the content of SPDs that affect both pension and welfare benefit plans. This document also adopts in final form certain regulations that were effective on an interim basis implementing amendments to ERISA enacted as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). This final rule will affect employee pension and welfare benefit plans, including group health plans, as well as administrators, fiduciaries, participants and beneficiaries of such plans. (+info)
Evaluation of the consumer model: relationship between patients' expectations, perceptions and satisfaction with care.
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OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the consumer model in a health care system, by studying the relationship between four variables: expectations, perceived degree of fulfillment, satisfaction and changing of physicians. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study; telephone interview of patients who had visited a primary care physician 1-2 months previously. SETTING: The Maccabi health plan, Israel. STUDY PARTICIPANTS: A random sample of 759 patients, aged 18 and over residing in two towns in Israel. Response rate to telephone interview was 50.7% (n=385). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Expectation, perceived expectations fulfilled by the physician, satisfaction with the visit to the primary care physician and intention to change physician. RESULTS: The gap between the expectations and their fulfillment showed a low correlation with satisfaction. For attributes where a large difference was found, no correlation was found with patient satisfaction. Attributes such as 'diagnosis', 'preventive health care' and 'answering questions' presented correlation coefficients of 0.3. The correlation between the perceived fulfillment of these attributes and satisfaction presented higher correlation coefficients (between 0.4-0.5). This limits the consumer model as a way to predict satisfaction. Satisfaction correlated highly with intention to change physician. The mean score for the satisfaction of those intending to change doctors was 3.8 compared to 5.5 in the group of consumers not intending to change doctors. CONCLUSION: The consumer model is able to explain only to a modest extent the variation in satisfaction, but dissatisfaction is a good predictor of the intention to change doctors. (+info)
Preventive health information on the Internet. Qualitative study of consumers' perspectives.
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OBJECTIVE: To explore how best to make high-quality preventive health information available to consumers on the Internet. DESIGN: Focus groups. SETTING: Three urban workplaces and one local hospital with patients from a rural family medical practice. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-two men and 17 women patients. METHOD: Qualitative survey of four focus groups, analysis of transcripts and researchers' notes. MAIN FINDINGS: Five themes characterized participants' perceptions of a consumer website of evidence-based preventive guidelines: content expectations, website design, trustworthiness of content, marketing, and the implications of consumer health information on the Internet. CONCLUSION: Consumers want preventive health information both for taking care of themselves and for participating in a more informed way in their health care when they see a physician. Findings of this study reveal some ways in which consumers' use of Internet health information can affect physicians' and other health professionals' work. (+info)
Closing the gap: building the capacity of non-government organizations as advocates for health equity.
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Seeking achievement of health equity has underpinned national government and global health policies for decades. However, major difficulties and challenges faced in the practice of achieving 'Health for All' has led to a recognition of the need to broaden the focus of efforts to improve health equity. Civil society groups have been identified as key stakeholders in attempts to achieve health equity, and the importance of strengthening their capacity to influence relevant government policy and practice has been highlighted. This paper presents the results of a qualitative study which examined the role of organizations outside government in advocating for health equity, and the capacities and conditions that were related to their success. In-depth, unstructured interviews were conducted with 26 non-government organizations (NGOs) who were active in three important health policy debates in Australia. The grounded theory method was used to direct data collection and analysis, and member checking was employed to ensure soundness and build ownership of the findings. Effective advocacy was found to be a dynamic process characterized by flexibility and opportunism within a framework of longer term goals. Two key ways of working were identified--in partnership and in conflict with government, with shifts in emphasis in response to organizational strengths and a changing environment. A number of domains of capacity, which together are termed 'capacity for advocacy', were also identified. It is clear that NGOs can learn a great deal from each other, but there needs to be investment by governments, international agencies and NGOs themselves if advocacy for health equity is to be strengthened. (+info)
Urinary health in eldercare environments: an update from the NAFC.
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The National Association For Continence elected to cancel its 2001 conference scheduled for October 2001 in Washington, DC in light of national events. Executive Director Nancy Muller has provided Ostomy/Wound Management with a synopsis of key issues, important considerations, and the syllabus. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve as a forum for this worthy organization. (+info)