Medicaid Turns to Prepaid Managed Care

Abstract

Faced with tight budgets and the federal government's willingness to permit flexibility in the operation of Medicaid programs, several states are experimenting with changes in the health care delivery system that may limit the range of providers and/or of services available to Medicaid recipients. The various ways in which different states are modifying their programs are surveyed, with emphasis on developments in "primary care networks," an approach in which the patient's initial contact with the health care system is through a network of primary care physicians who are given economic incentives to hold down costs. (KIE abstract)