Can they survive competition from Medicare HMOs?
From the October 1998 ACP-ASIM Observer, copyright 1998 by the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine. By Deborah Gesensway Officials at St. Joseph Healthcare in Albuquerque, N.M., see HCFA’s new Medicare+Choice program as a glass that is half full. That’s why the organization was one of the first health systems in the country to apply to the federal government to operate its own managed care health plan for Medicare recipients as a provider-sponsored organization (PSO). Medicare PSOs are a new type of health plan that promises to allow doctors to contract directly with the government and assume risk for Medicare patients. Optimists view this new breed of health plan as the latest way to cut out the middleman—commercial HMOs and insurers—and funnel health care dollars directly to physicians. HCFA estimates that about 20 PSOs may apply and be approved for licensure under Medicare+Choice each year, although only three had applied at press time. The Congressi
