HMOs Told: "Focus On Quality, Not Cost"

Managed care companies need to redirect their thinking from cost savingsto quality patient care, which will lower overall costs, says the president of the Central Florida Health Care Coalition, Becky Cherney.

Coalition members spend about 7% of the health care budget on prescription drugs, and say that if utilization rates rose costs would fall, depending on HMOs' willingness to select drugs by effectiveness and not cost, she said. Also, HMOs should be "developing physicians, not directing them, and should be selecting doctors on the basis of outcomes, not discount."