Managed Care and Special Needs Populations-Sites

The purpose of this listing is to provide various sites and documents on the World Wide Wibe that deal with special needs populations and managed care. After doing extensive tedious searching on Netscape, I was able to come up with five sites and five documents that contain useful information regarding this subject. The information compiled deals with various special needs patient populations, such as the elderly, women and children, the mentally ill, minorities, substance abusers, victims of HIV/AIDS, and several others. The effect of managed care processes and procedures on these populations is examined and reveals volumes of useful information. The information collected is by no means exhaustive, and gives only a taste of a vast subject. In any case, the bookmarks collected may be used as an aid to research and as a stepping stone to more information.

Documents

Hurting Real People
This is an extensive document which discusses the impact of medicaid cuts on people in varying situations. It provides real-life cases of the impact of enrolling Medicaid patients into managed care organizations. It illustrates mostly the negative aspects this has had and some positive aspects. It provides much useful information on the impact of this change on people with special needs, such as the mentally ill, the physically disabled, poor persons, and the elderly-both healthy and ill.
I rate this document as ***** because is provides tons of useful information. It is organized well; includes informative charts, tables, graphs, and illustrations; and a complete list of references. I highly recommend this document to anyone researching this topic.
Medicaid HMOs and Perinatal Care
This document lays out an extensive research study performed by the University of Chicago, Center for Health Administration Studies. The study compares perinatal outcomes for a population of predominantly black mothers and newborns enrolled in a Chicago Medicaid HMO. The study reports that in many studies, HMO-guided care has not shown significant effects on outcomes, but in some instances it has proven cost-effective. In this study, there were no statistically significant results, however low neonatal mortality was unmistakenly accomplished for the HMO enrollees. Furthermore, the paper stresses that environmental factors such as poverty, poor nutrition, stress, exposure to toxins, drug abuse, and lack of preventative services are manifested by poor health outcomes in this Chicago population. It emphasizes the need for HMOs to address these issues when delivering care.
I rate this document *****. It provides useful information regarding the effectiveness of managed care for public recipients. It is most useful for professionals and researchers.
PI Perspective 17: Managed Care
This document, issued by "Project Inform", discusses managed care in relation to patients with HIV/AIDS. The article gives an in-depth discussion of the purpose of managed care, its goals, and its various different aspects. It provides an actual case of a woman enrolled in Kaiser Permanente who saw many problems with this group once she learned she was HIV+. Using this woman's example, the article reveals that to "squeeze quality out of an HMO" is possible but not easy. It gives solid advice on important issues for people with HIV/AIDS to recognize when dealing with an HMO or a managed care organization.
I rate this article with ****. It provides excellent and useful information regarding managed care and how it can affect those with HIV/AIDS. It is easy to read and, although intended for "lay" consumers, it is a good resource for research.
The Elderly Have Unique Health Care Needs That May Be Unsuited For Managed Care
This document is a short article which discusses the implications of managed care for elderly populations. It points out that enrolling in new plans in new locations with new providers may be difficult and inconvenient for seniors. It also underlines that the prevention-based philosophy of most managed care organizations will not suit sick elderly people suffering from chronic conditions. It stresses that the special needs of the elderly must be met before they are expected to join managed care organizations.
I give this document *** because it is short and only introduces the topic of the special needs of the elderly. However, it brings in many issues that may be used as a spring board for further research for anyone interested in this topic.
Updates & What's New - Bills, Grassroots Advocacy, HIV, AIDS, New Strides
This document was found from the larger site, "National Alliance for the Mentally III". This page, "Updates..." is of relevance because it discusses current issues related to special needs and managed care, specifically in the realms of mental illness and substance abuse. All of the articles except the HIV/AIDS one, offer important information and expert opinions. One discusses laws regarding insurance eligibility for substance abusers, another provides guidance on evaluating a mental health and substance abuse health care system, and one discusses strides made in mental health service provision and management.
I rate this document as **** as a good resource for health care providers, consumers, and as a valuable piece for anyone doing research in these topics.

Sites

Community Care Management, Inc.
This bookmark describes a site which deals with severely emotionally and mentally disturbed children and adults who need specialized care. It provides comprehensive community-based treatment and support services and programs. It also focuses on those at risk of being institutionalized. The service provides information including expertise, administrative services, and management services relating to the operation of services to special needs populations. It also emphasizes family-focused, community-based care, and the principles of managed care.
I rate this site ****. It targets health care providers who are interested in forming such a program for special needs populations. It is relatively easy to use by linking on to Managed Care On-Line.
DISABILITY MANAGEMENT RESOURCE DIRECTORY
This is a site which focuses on processes and practices regarding disability management for injured, ill, and disabled employees and how to go about helping them mainstream back into work environments. The directory is updated regularly, and is thus very useful. It specifically examines disability management within corporations. It gives insights on how to manage such problems while working within the constraints of the current state of the nation's health care systems, specifically the increase of cost-containment strategies implemented by managed care organizations.
I give the site ***. What I found is quite resourceful in that it gives a lot of information about this topic by giving excerpts from a recent book "Return to Work by Design" by Gene and Martin Dent. Even though it appears that this site looks like a sales pitch for new book, it does include valuable information to be used by health professionals, specifically those related to occupational health.
Medscape/Managed Care
This is a vast site which includes various topics related to managed care. In terms of patients with special needs, it contains various articles about infertility, issues in prevention, health policy, and many more. It also is updated frequently. To use this site, one must register with Medscape. This can be done quickly and free of charge when you click on to this site.
I rate this site as *****. This is a huge site with a lot of cutting edge information related to special needs populations. The articles, "Clinical Treatment of Infertility..." and "Prevention and Managed Care..." are particularly useful for health care providers, health administrators, and researchers.
PIE Online WWW Home Page
This is a vast site which offers all kinds of useful information about mental health and related issues. It is easy and quick to navigate through. Some features within this site include an extensive list of Web sites for Mental Health, and various documents. I was able to find several documents in regard to managed care and special needs which covered topics such as mental illness, substance abuse, children's health, and health care for the poor and needy.
I rated this site *****. It contains volumes of useful resources and easy is to use. It targets people from all backgrounds and walks of life. See it for yourself...
The Commonwealth Fund - Home Page
This is an excellent site for locating efforts made for special needs populations in New York City. It contains publications covering such issues as improvement of health care services for underserved populations, minority Americans, elderly, children and young people, women, and the poor. The impact of managed care on all of these special needs populations is also examined. Lists of grant-funded research projects, books, and articles of the organization's publication are also given. All of these items may be directly ordered from the site.
I rate this site with *****. Although its focus is not entirely on managed care, it provides valuable information on special needs populations. The articles focus on health promotion and disease prevention and the effects of managed care on these. I highly recommend this site for anyone interested in studying special needs populations in the current health care climate.

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