PATIENT OUTCOMES AND MANAGED CARE: WHAT WAS THE IMPACT OF THE STATE REGULATORY BACKLASH?

• Main Author: HIGHFILL, TINA C
• Format: Others
• Published: VCU Scholars Compass 2017
• Subjects: Managed care; patient-reported outcomes; state regulations; satisfaction; confidence; access; Health Law and Policy
• Online Access: https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/4854; https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5856&context=etd

Hundreds of state regulations were passed during the “managed care backlash” of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Many of these anti-managed care regulations eased or eliminated constraints on patient utilization of health care services imposed by managed care organizations. Other regulations gave managed care providers more flexibility in the way they practiced care or helped patients appeal denials of claims. Despite the effort undertaken to pass these regulations, limited research exists on whether the regulations achieved their goal. To fill this gap, this study takes advantage of the variety of regulations enacted during the managed care backlash of the late 1990s and early 2000s to investigate their impact on patient-reported quality of care and mortality for managed care enrollees. The results indicate the regulations did improve patient-reported outcomes, but to varying degrees and only in the latter period of the backlash. Specifically, managed care enrollees who lived in states that adopted moderate-intensity regulations between 2000 and 2004 reported relatively better improvements in access to care and confidence in their provider than did managed care enrollees in states with low-intensity backlash regulations. The positive effect on access to care was similar in states that adopted high-intensity regulations. However, no positive effect was found for any outcome in the first period (1996-2000). These results show that states with the most intense regulatory backlash did not realize better patient-reported outcomes. Instead, states that pursued moderate-intensity backlash regulations experienced relatively better outcomes for their managed care enrollees.