Managed Care Rebound? Recent Changes In Health Plans' Cost Containment Strategies

TLDR

Large increases in health care costs and an economic slowdown have pressured health plans and employers to reconsider cost containment strategies that were scaled back after the managed care backlash. The study examines how health plans' cost containment and care management strategies have evolved since 2001. The authors analyze the evolution of these strategies from 2001 onward. Plans reintroduced utilization management and continued disease/case management, experimented with tiered networks and incentive payments, but most respondents doubted these alone would substantially curb future costs.

Abstract

Large increases in health care costs combined with an economic slowdown have created pressures for health plans and employers to reconsider cost containment strategies that were scaled back after the managed care backlash. In this paper we examine how plans' approaches to cost containment and care management have evolved since 2001. Plans reintroduced and refocused some utilization management techniques during 2002 and 2003 while continuing to invest in disease and case management. Some also began to experiment with new variants of managed care, including tiered provider networks and incentive-based provider payments. However, few respondents believed that these strategies alone would greatly reduce future costs.