Managed Care Organizations and Public Health: Exploring Collaboration on Adolescent Immunizations

ABSTRACT: Managed care organizations (MCOs) joined local and state public health agencies in a pilot effort to improve hepatitis B immunization rates of adolescents in an urban and a suburban/rural school district. The pilot also explored issues inherent in public and private collaboration on population health improvement.
Local public health agencies provided links to schools in their communities, took the lead in implementing school-based immunization programs, and provided health education materials. MCOs contributed financial support necessary for the project. The final cost per fully vaccinated student, not taking into account the work group's planning and coordination time, was little more than the catalog price of the vaccine alone.
Managed care organizations face challenges that complicate their participation and funding of school-based vaccinations: 1) Limited data on health plans of participating students complicate allocation of costs to each MCO; 2) Double-paying occurs for MCOs paying clinics a monthly, per-member rate that already includes adolescent immunizations; 3) When schools provide adolescent immunizations, MCOs lose the "hook" that draws adolescents to clinics for comprehensive health services.
When self-consenting is permitted, schools can achieve a high consent and completion rates for multi-dose adolescent immunizations such as hepatitis B. At the same time, MCOs have the responsibility to provide members with comprehensive care and should continue to examine both internal modifications and external partnerships as opportunities to improve their services to adolescents.     

Public health practice linkages between schools of public health and state health agencies: results from a three-year survey.

Several recent examinations of the state of public health have called for enhanced linkages between schools of public health and public health agencies, prompting federal health agencies and schools of public health to develop practice initiatives. Surveys of schools of public health and of state public health agencies were conducted in 1992 to collect baseline data on practice links between the two agencies; follow-up surveys were undertaken in 1993 and 1994. Responses reveal that a substantial amount of interaction between schools and agencies has been occurring for some time, but that until recently much of the interaction has been informal and between individuals or departments rather than institution-wide. Both frequency and formalization of such collaborations have increased, reflecting a growing emphasis on public health practice activities at schools of public health together with public health agencies.     

The role of local health units in a managed care environment: a case study of New York City.

With the growth of managed care, local health units (LHUs) and managed care organizations (MCOs) across the country are forging new relationships in an effort to serve the interests of both entities. Through collaboration, LHUs and MCOs can maximize resources, expand health promotion efforts, and benefit from each party's respective expertise. This study draws on the experiences of the New York City Department of Health and other local health units to identify seven basic models for interaction with MCOs and to present suggested steps and strategies for LHUs to develop successful collaborations with MCOs.     

Managed Care, School Health Programs, and Adolescent Health Services: Opportunities for Health Promotion

ABSTRACT: The rapid expansion of managed care creates opportunities and dilemmas for those involved in school health and adolescent health promotion. Managed care organizations (MCOs), public health agencies, and school and adolescent health providers share certain common goals and priorities including an emphasis on prevention, cost-effectiveness, and quality of care — and a willingness to explore innovative approaches to health promotion and disease prevention. However, MCOs often face conflicting challenges, balancing the goals of cost containment and investment in prevention. In considering support for school health programs, MCOs will be interested in evidence about the effectiveness of services in improving health and/or reducing medical expenditures. Mechanisms for improving prevention efforts within MCOs include quality assurance systems to monitor the performance of health plans, practice guidelines from professional organizations, and the contracting process between payers and health care providers. Development of partnerships between MCOs and schools will be a challenge given competing priorities, variation in managed care arrangements, structural differences between MCOs and schools, and variability in services provided by school health programs     

The ability of managed care to control health care costs: how much is enough?

This article argues that moral hazard is the main source of market failure in the health care sector. Cost sharing and managed care both are designed to control the extra costs of moral hazard. Managed care organizations (MCOs) have the potential to control costs by changing provider incentives away from excessive utilization of resources toward less costly and more effective treatments. However, MCOs have been given the wrong instructions by short-sighted employers who have overemphasized cost control. The solution is to give consumers more information and a choice of plans that emphasize different types and levels of cost control.     

Health plan quality-of-care information is undermined by voluntary reporting

BACKGROUND: Most health services in the United States are delivered by managed care organizations (MCOs). Publicly available, plan-specific performance information is required to adequately assess healthcare quality provided. Using women's health indicators, we compared performance results for MCOs and evaluated whether those MCOs that publicly report quality-of-care (QOC) results demonstrate better QOC than those plans that restrict public access to data. METHODS: Data from the Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) for commercial MCOs in 1998 were analyzed for women's QOC indicators. Plan-specific, regional, and national performances were analyzed and results compared to established benchmarks. Public-reporting plans were compared to plans that restrict access to QOC information. Linear regression was used to identify determinants of health plan performance including public release of information. RESULTS: Commercial MCOs had wide variations in QOC indicators and, on average, failed to attain national health goals for most women's health indicators analyzed. Plans that restricted public access to QOC information had poorer performance than those that did not (p<0.05). Results suggest that whether a plan publicly releases its performance information is highly associated with health plan performance even after taking into account other factors. CONCLUSIONS: The voluntary aspect of reporting and the ability of health plans to restrict public access is allowing poorer performing health plans to escape public scrutiny. Variations in QOC have clinical significance and, if publicly available, would enable individuals to select high-quality healthcare products. The ability of health plans to restrict public information is not consistent with the 1973 Health Maintenance Organization Act requiring public information on health plan quality. A national strategy to ensure that QOC information is available on all healthcare systems is past due.     

Collaboration between public health and law enforcement: new paradigms and partnerships for bioterrorism planning and response

The biological attacks with powders containing Bacillus anthracis sent through the mail during September and October 2001 led to unprecedented public health and law enforcement investigations, which involved thousands of investigators from federal, state, and local agencies. Following recognition of the first cases of anthrax in Florida in early October 2001, investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were mobilized to assist investigators from state and local public health and law enforcement agencies. Although public health and criminal investigations have been conducted in concert in the past, the response to the anthrax attacks required close collaboration because of the immediate and ongoing threat to public safety. We describe the collaborations between CDC and FBI during the investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks and highlight the challenges and successes of public health and law enforcement collaborations in general.     

Academic public health and managed care.

Health care delivery is going through revolutionary changes. There is a shift toward providing care under the auspices of managed care organizations (MCOs). These MCOs are becoming larger and more comprehensive while increasingly focused on preventive and public health issues. Quality of care, health economics, health services research, data and information systems, quantitative analysis, and the social and behavioral sciences are all becoming important areas of expertise for MCOs and are vital to their successful operation. Thus schools of public health can contribute considerably to MCOs by making their curricula relevant to a managed care environment and having faculty members and research programs that recognize the public health overlap with managed care.     

Organizational and professional characteristics predicting external communications in Canadian public health units.

This study is a survey of administrative divisions involved in tobacco programs in Canadian public health units. It aims to identify correlates of public health units' contacts and collaborations with external agencies, as predisposing factors in their capacity to innovate. Heads of 124 divisions involved in tobacco control completed a questionnaire about their budgets, staff, and management practices. In each of these divisions, professionals involved in tobacco programs also completed a questionnaire about their characteristics and experience. Results showed a high level of contacts and collaborations with external agencies. Four variables emerged as correlates of external communications: professionals' degree of access to public health information sources, the diversity of disciplines within the administrative division, the decentralization of authority, and the level of professionals' participation in decision-making. Because of the potential relationship between innovation and external communication, public health units should consider fostering external communication by management practices and policies, such as favouring professional diversity, increasing access to sources of information, and adopting more decentralized, participatory management.     

Alternatives to sharing COVID-19 data with law enforcement: Recommendations for stakeholders

During the COVID-19 pandemic, in some jurisdictions, police have become involved in enforcing coronavirus-related measures. Relatedly, several North American jurisdictions have established COVID-19 data sharing protocols with law enforcement. Research across a range of fields has demonstrated that involving police in matters of public health disproportionately impacts the most vulnerable and does more harm than good. This is reflected in the consensus against COVID-19 criminalization that has emerged among civil society organizations focused on HIV, human rights, and harm reduction. The European Data Protection Board has also released guidelines against re-uses of COVID-19 data for law enforcement purposes. This article offers an overview of the harms of criminalizing illnesses and strategies for health stakeholders to seek alternatives to sharing COVID-19 data with police agencies while facilitating interoperability with healthcare first responders. It also presents case studies from two North American jurisdictions – Ontario and Minnesota – that have established routine COVID-19 data sharing with police. We recommended seven alternatives, including designating COVID-19 data as sensitive and implementing segmented interoperability with first responder agencies. These guidelines can help ensure that health information technology platforms do not become vehicles for the criminalization of COVID-19, and that health data stay within the health system.     

Partnering for preparedness: the project public health ready experience

Effective partnerships between local and state public health agencies and schools of public health have tremendous potential to improve the health of communities nationwide. This article highlights successful collaboration between local public health agencies (LPHA), state health departments, and Academic Centers for Public Health Preparedness (ACPHP) in schools of public health developed through participation in Project Public Health Ready, a program to recognize LPHA emergency preparedness. The project's pilot phase illustrated that LPHAs, state health departments, and ACPHP can effectively work together to improve individual public health worker competency and organizational response capacity in local public health agencies nationwide.     

Final report on public health practice linkages between schools of public health and state health agencies: 1992-1996.

Since 1988 there has been a call for enhanced linkages between schools of public health and public health agencies that has prompted schools of public health to develop public health practice initiatives. The University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health conducted surveys of schools of public health and of state public health agencies in 1992 to collect baseline data on practice initiatives undertaken by academe and governmental public health agencies to enhance collaboration; follow-up surveys were undertaken in 1993, 1994 and 1996. This article describes the trends and implications of this survey of practice linkages involving schools of public health and state health agencies.     

The School Health Innovative Programs: Integrating School Health and Managed Care in San Diego

ABSTRACT: Managed care organizations (MCOs) are being recruited to support school health services delivered in school clinics. Schools without clinics already provide numerous health services and could provide more if they had support from managed care organizations. This article describes the first two years of a San Diego-based collaborative consisting of MCOs, school districts, and other health care agencies. By establishing trust, developing overriding principles, and creating an interagency communication infrastructure, this collaborative has encouraged shared management of many student health issues. Because the agreements apply to all schools, programs can reduce high rates of absenteeism district-wide and avoid unnecessary doctor appointments for common health problems. These collaborative agreements are designed to be financially self-sustaining. However, data collection, the logistics of obtaining parental consent, and getting health professionals to communicate with each other in new ways remain to be significant challenges.     

Turning Point's National Excellence Collaboratives: assessing a new model for policy and system capacity development.

This article reviews the factors leading to successful collaborations and observations about the functioning of groups of states in collaborative coalitions by examining one specific collaboration--the Turning Point initiative. Turning Point is an initiative funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to transform and strengthen the US public health system so that it is more effective, more community based, and more collaborative in protecting and improving the public's health and well-being. A unique aspect of the Turning Point initiative is the creation of 5 National Excellence Collaboratives, with participating members from multiple Turning Point state partnerships, national public health associations, federal agencies, and diverse other organizations appropriate to each Collaborative's focus. Over 5 years, Turning Point Collaboratives developed educational materials, practice tools, and policy recommendations aimed at improving the public health system at the state and local levels and, ultimately, improving the health of the US population. The literature on collaborative partnerships and coalitions describes key elements and factors among successful partnerships. Areas of importance to success in Turning Point Collaboratives that have implications for future efforts include: continuity of leadership and membership, adequate technical assistance, diversity of Collaborative membership, regular feedback, and incentives.     

Small numbers, disclosure risk, security, and reliability issues in Web-based data query systems.

This article describes the process for developing consensus guidelines and tools for releasing public health data via the Web and highlights approaches leading agencies have taken to balance disclosure risk with public dissemination of reliable health statistics. An agency's choice of statistical methods for improving the reliability of released data for Web-based query systems is based upon a number of factors, including query system design (dynamic analysis vs preaggregated data and tables), population size, cell size, data use, and how data will be supplied to users. The article also describes those efforts that are necessary to reduce the risk of disclosure of an individual's protected health information.     

Successful strategies and lessons learned from development of large-scale partnerships of national non-governmental organisations

National governments worldwide work to improve education and health outcomes for children and youth and influence their behaviours. Also heavily engaged are national non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the voluntary and non-profit sector. While individual agencies and non-profit organisations are often concerned with specific issues of interest related to their charge, constituency or membership, they often develop allegiances with like-minded groups to accomplish broader goals. Two such collaborations in the United States are the focus of this discussion, the National Co-ordinating Committee on School Health and Safety (NCCSHS) and the Friends of School Health (hereafter, "the Friends"). This article reviews these two significant partnerships of public health and education NGOs and outlines successful strategies and lessons learned from the development of these large-scale partnerships. NCCSHS is a collaboration of 64 NGOs and six U.S. government departments representing both the fields of public health and education. Nearly all major NGOs working in fields related to school health are represented, and the six primary governmental agencies all have at least some responsibility for students' health and safety. The group is the primary intersection of NGOs and the Federal government related to school health at the national level. The Friends of School Health ("the Friends") is the primary school health advocacy coalition at the national level in the United States. Sixty-one education and public health NGOs participate. The coalition serves as a communication mechanism and venue for collaborative action on issues before the U.S. Congress and state legislatures that relate to school health. Since the coalition advocates to legislators and other decision makers, no government agencies participate. The paper describes the strategies relating to the initial development of the collaboratives and their ongoing operation. A common theme in development of both of these examples of large-scale partnerships is trust. Like any partnership, the ability to work and grow is dependent on the level of trust among the partners. Both the National Coordinating Committee on School Health and Safety and the Friends of School Health work together successfully within and across their collaborations, to improve health and educational outcomes for children and youth. While both experience challenges, and neither would indicate that its work is near completion, they provide important insight into how these collaboratives can initially develop and subsequently operate productively while providing important contributions to the promotion of healthy schools, and ultimately, healthy nations.     

Corporate Philanthropy Toward Community Health Improvement in Manufacturing Communities

Virtually all large employers engage in corporate philanthropy, but little is known about the extent to which it is directed toward improving community health. We conducted in-depth interviews with leaders of corporate philanthropy from 13 of the largest manufacturing companies in the US to understand how giving decisions were made, the extent to which funding was directed towards improving community health, and whether companies coordinate with local public health agencies. We found that corporate giving was sizable and directed towards communities in which the manufacturers have a large presence. Giving was aligned with the social determinants of health (i.e., aimed at improving economic stability, the neighborhood and physical environment, education, food security and nutrition, the community and social context, and the health care system). However, improving public health was not often cited as a goal of corporate giving, and coordination with public health agencies was limited. Our results suggest that there may be opportunities for public health agencies to help guide corporate philanthropy, particularly by sharing community-level data and offering their measurement and evaluation expertise.     

State Medicaid and MCO-CBO contracting. The George Washington University studies

The web of contracts between purchasers, plans, and providers will ultimately shape the American healthcare system. Managed care contracts represent a marked departure from common law principles which allowed healthcare providers to decide when and under what circumstances they would enter into a provider/patient relationship. In two studies supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health and Services Administration (SAMHSA), contracts for behavioral healthcare services between Medicaid agencies and MCOs, and between MCOs and community-based mental health and substance abuse organizations were examined. Contracts typically cover both mental health and substance abuse treatment services, but state-to-state variation in procedures and specific services covered is the hallmark of behavioral healthcare contracts across the board.     

Linkages between public and non-government sectors in healthcare: A case study from Uttar Pradesh,India

Effective utilisation of collaborative non-governmental organisation (NGO)-public health system linkages in pluralistic health systems of developing countries can substantially improve equity and quality of services. This study explores level and types of linkages between public health sector and NGOs in Uttar Pradesh (UP), an underprivileged state of India, using a social science model for the first time. It also identifies gaps and challenges for effective linkage. Two NGOs were selected as case studies. Data collection included semi-structured in-depth interviews with senior staff and review of records and reporting formats. Formal linkages of NGOs with the public health system related to registration, participation in district level meetings, workforce linkages and sharing information on government-supported programmes. Challenges included limited data sharing, participation in planning and limited monitoring of regulatory compliances. Linkage between public health system and NGOs in UP was moderate, marked by frequent interaction and some reciprocity in information and resource flows, but weak participation in policy and planning. The type of linkage could be described as ‘complementarity’, entailing information and resource sharing but not joint action. Stronger linkage is required for sustained and systematic collaboration, with joint planning, implementation and evaluation.