Women's health centers and managed care

0 ne of the most important changes under way in the U.S. health care system is the growth of managed care. Increasing attention is being paid to the implications of the growing number of persons enrolled in managed care plans of various types for consumer satisfaction, quality, and costs of care.l Less attention has been paid to the effects of managed care on the organizational characteristics, service mix, and viability of specific types of health care providers, especially those providing unique health care options or serving clients with special needs. Although many specialized health care organizations and those serving as providers of last resort (such as community health centers and public health department programs) are concerned about the transition to managed care, few studies have investigated the impact of managed care on these providers. This article considers the impact of the growth of managed care on various kinds of women’s health centers. Women’s health centers are organizational entities, in both the public and private sectors, providing clinical services designed for and marketed to women in both hospital-sponsored and nonhospital settings. Although the concept of women’s health centers dates to the Women’s Health Movement of the 1960s and 197Os, centers have been growing in number during the 1980s and 199Os, particularly within the hospital sector, and are increasingly diverse in organizational characteristics and services provided.’ The 1994 National Survey of Women’s Health Centers describes five types of women’s health centers in operation nationwide in 1993-1994: primary care centers (12% of all centers), reproductive health centers (71%), birth or childbearing centers (4%), breast care centers (6%), and various “other” types (6%) of primarily hospitalowned or -operated centers that provide education and referral services, inpatient pavilions, or specialty outpatient services (eg, breast and bone imaging).3 There were an estimated 3,600 women’s health centers in the United States in 1993 serving an estimated 14.5 million women (about 14% of the female population ages 15 and over). Approximately 7.8 million women relied

Business · Economic growth · Family medicine · Health care · Managed care · Public health · Healthcare Policy and Management · Medicine · Nursing · Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare · Primary Care and Health Outcomes

• Threats to family planning services in Michigan

  Open Access•Vanessa K Dalton, Peter D Jacobson et al.•Women s Health Issues•2005

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• Delivery of primary care services among family planning centers

  Open Access•Virginia H Poole, Carol S Weisman•Women s Health Issues•2000

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• The organization and delivery of women’s health care in Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center

  Open Access•Elizabeth M Yano, Donna L Washington et al.•Women s Health Issues•2003

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• Women's health centers

  Open Access•Patty Looker•Women s Health Issues•1993

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• The national survey of women's health centers

  Open Access•Carol S Weisman, Barbara Curbow et al.•Women s Health Issues•1995

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• The commonwealth fund women's health survey

  Open Access•Warren H Pearse•Women s Health Issues•1994

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• Women-centered care

  Open Access•Margie J Schaps, Edward S Linn et al.•Women s Health Issues•1993

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