First Managed Care Initiative In Portugal

Medis, Portugal's first organized managed care initiative, has been introduced by the country's leading insurer, Seguros e Pensoes Gere. It combines the US company Informed Access Systems Inc's FirstHelp patient assessment and health care information service with a contracted network of Portuguese physicians, hospitals, ancillary centers and other providers, and is modeled on the US preferred provider organization concept, Business Wire reported last week.

Managed care is virtually unknown in Portugal's single-payer public health system, says the report. Although all citizens have access to free care, there is a trend to opt for private care, funded by private health insurance. Penetration of private insurance is estimated at 5% of the population and demand is growing rapidly. So far, insurance coverage in Portugal has been limited to fee-for-service, but Medis says it expects to become a managed care leader by offering value-added services at a reasonable cost.