Basics of Managed Care Flashcards
Discuss recent trends in health care plans
national health expenditures per capita has significantly increased (share of GDP is 19.3%)
Life expectancy in 2022 in US
partially rebounded in US while stabilizing in most comparable countries
US lost nearly two decades of progress in life expectancy (COVID, opioid epidemic, guns)
What is managed care?
Managed care is an approach to the delivery of healthcare services in a way that puts limited resources to best use in optimizing patient care
increase outcomes, decrease costs
– Highly regionalized (insurance is regulated by states)
– Molded by territorial demands
– Varied based on employer size
– Used by both private and public heath plans
Managed care organization (MCO)
- A generic term applied to a managed care plan; also called Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), Preferred Provider Organization (PPO), or Point-of-Service Plan (POS), although the MCO may not conform exactly to any of these formats.
- MCOs manage the cost and utilization of covered services and products to optimize patient care through efficient use of limited resources.
Accountable care organizations (ACOs)
- Groups of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers, who voluntary work together to provide coordinated high-quality care to their Medicare patients and accept financial risk/reward tied to clinical outcomes.
- The Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS) govern ACOs licenses and measures ACOs
Preferred provider organization (PPO)
- A managed care delivery model consisting of preferred networks of providers with some out-of- network coverage. PPOs offer patients more choice and flexibility than health maintenance organizations (HMOs) with correspondingly higher premiums.
Many use the terms MCO and health plans interchangeably to describe
a managed care delivery system
MCOs include:
* Managed Medicaid and Medicare programs
* Employer-offered commercial insurance plans
* Department of Defense TRICARE programs
* Integrated delivery systems and ACOs
Focus continues to be on controlling costs by controlling supply and demand of all healthcare resources.
Utilize an array of cost management strategies to influence cost-effective decisions.
Medicare part ____ is managed care compenent biggest part
C
HMOs
– HMOs expanded following HMO Act of 1973.
– Promoted wellness and health prevention in addition to comprehensive acute and chronic care.
– Why have they fallen somewhat out of favor? - employees likely to stay with their employers now
Describe the goals and rationale for managed care plans
Goals:
* Prevention of disease
* Focus on wellness and enhanced QOL
* Improved clinical outcomes
* Quality and accessibility of health care
* Cost containment
The smaller the firm size
the less health benefits offered
Average annual premiums for family coverage
has increased way faster than for single coverage
Flow of products, services, and funds for nonspeciality drugs covered under private insurance and purchased in a retail setting
plan sponsors –> health plan –> PBM –> manufacturer –> wholesaler –> pharmacy –> beneficiary
Discuss the major tools used in the pharmacy benefit component of a managed care plan
- Most MCOs offer a prescription drug plan as part of the healthcare benefits
- Prescription drug plans manage formularies and use utilization management tools and cost-sharing to manage prescription costs
- Utilization management tools include: Prior Authorization, Step Therapy, Quantity Limits
Covered pharmacy benefit in MCOs: tiers/tiered formulary
A pharmacy benefit design that financially rewards patients for using generic and preferred drugs by requiring progressively higher copayments for progressively higher tiers.
Fundamentals of group insurance: tiers for prescription drugs
– Tier 1: lowest copayment - most generic prescription drugs
– Tier 2: medium copayment - preferred, brand-name prescription drugs
– Tier 3: higher copayment - non-preferred, brand-name prescription drugs
– Specialty tier: highest copayment: very high-cost prescription drugs
Tier 1
preferred generic
Tier 2
non-preferred generic
Tier 3
preferred brand
Tier 4
non-preferred brand
Tier 5
preferred speciality
Tier 6
non-preferred speciality