Carefully designed and created Medicare managed care products are the future of the program. The Health Care Financing Administration reports that enrollment in Medicare managed care increased about 50% between the end of 1994 and the beginning of 1997. The proportion of Medicare beneficiaries enrolling in Medicare managed care programs is slowing, but this growth will accelerate as Congress debates upon Medicare financing reform. Are the stakeholders in the managed care industry prepared for this growth?

In this monograph, the authors provide an inventory and checklist of tasks to complete and questions to ask in determining the feasibility of a Medicare risk program for your organization.

The authors outline a strategy formation model that is applicable to all stakeholders involved in the Medicare risk market. The monograph is prefaced by a discussion of the development of the Medicare program from its pre-legislative stage to Medicare risk contracting today.

Areas of discussion in this section include Capitation and Medicare, the roles of employers and consumers in the program, and social issues surrounding the Medicare debate.