Monday, June 27, 2005

Medicaid Managed Care: Looking Forward, Looking Back National Academy for State Health Policy report (in PDF format) - " Since 1990 managed care has grown to be the dominant delivery system in Medicaid. State Medicaid agencies have both expanded managed care to cover more complex populations and established mechanisms to ensure access and quality. These years have also seen a consolidation in the Medicaid marketplace and the increased use of managed care organizations (MCOs) that serve a primarily public population (Medicaid, Medicare, and SCHIP). The National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) has tracked these and other changes through six surveys of state Medicaid managed care programs conducted in 1990, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2002. All six surveys were developed with extensive input from state officials, and all 50 states and the District of Columbia responded to each survey. Each survey gathered information on the scope and operation of two major types of managed care: risk and primary care case management (PCCM). NASHP staff conducted a focus group in March 2005 to review the information collected in all six surveys to identify key findings, trends that may continue, and factors that may impact the future of Medicaid managed care..."