Physicians and the Growth of Managed Care

Abstract

Many physicians, torn between their fidelity to fee-for-service medicine and the realities of a more competitive health insurance market, are taking a reluctant professional step: they are becoming involved in the rapidly growing phenomenon known as managed care. Managed care refers to a variety of methods of financing and organizing the delivery of comprehensive health care in which an attempt is made to control costs by controlling the provision of services. The term encompasses health maintenance organizations (HMOs), preferred-provider organizations (PPOs), and point-of-service financing and delivery systems. The rapid growth of managed care reflects the increasing determination of employers to . . .