Medicaid Turns to Prepaid Managed Care

Abstract

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