Evaluation of Medicaid managed care. Satisfaction, access, and use.

Abstract

Medicaid managed care enrollees in New York City reported better access to care and higher levels of satisfaction compared with conventional Medicaid beneficiaries. Differences between these findings and those for privately insured populations highlight the pitfalls of generalizing from other groups to Medicaid for policy purposes. Given growing reliance on consumer satisfaction surveys for clinical and public policy, future research should focus on factors that explain extreme satisfaction vs extreme dissatisfaction. New York State's initiative, which has been associated with careful state and local monitoring, merits continuing evaluation as managed care enrollment grows and may become mandatory.