Managed Care

I have agreed to present a paper to a conference on "managed care". It is targetted at human resource managers.

Why are HR managers interested in "managed care"? They find the cost of providing medical benefits to employees for both outpatient and in-hospital treatment, to be increasing over the years. They hope that "managed care" can help to slow down the increase.

What is "managed care"? Under managed care, the insurance company is more active in managing the costs of treatment, e.g. to make sure that the patient gets the right treatment, avoid overcharging by the providers, avoid abuses, and most importantly, to keep the employees healthy.

If the costs can be managed, the employer pays a lower premium for the medical benefits next year. The HR manager will get a better performance rating!