Local innovations provide managed care for the uninsured.

Abstract

A number of communities in the United States are adopting a managed care approach to caring for low-income uninsured individuals. This Issue Brief focuses on such programs in five of the 12 communities that the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) is tracking intensively. It describes the local market factors that motivated the creation and varying design of these initiatives, all of which seek to increase access to primary and preventive care while managing the use of more costly inpatient and emergency care. The Issue Brief also discusses the long-term viability of these programs as they attempt to simultaneously expand access to services and contain costs for this growing population.