Managed health care cuts costs and raises quality

Switching from fee for service to a managed care system has increased patients' access to health care, reduced costs, and seems to have raised the quality of care since it was introduced in Tennessee.

Transplant surgeon and United States Senator Bill Frist presented data on the scheme at a conference “Health care quality in a time of transition,” which was held in Washington last week and was organised by the health maintenance organisation Kaiser Permanente and the journal Health Affairs.

The state of Tennessee switched 800 000 recipients of Medicaid, the insurance system …