Managed Care In Europe - It's Here Already

Managed health care is not simply a US concept, defined by the characteristics of various US organizations such as Health Maintenance Organizations, but is a set of principles which can be, and are, applied to any health care payment and delivery system.

Given this, it is incorrect to say that managed care is a concept that "will move into European countries in the future," states a new report from Datamonitor, entitled Managed Care in Europe 1995, available through the Marketletter. Managed care is already present, and has been for some considerable time in the health care systems of Europe.

One example is the UK's state health care system, the National Health Service, which has practiced considerable restriction of access to health care (a fundamental principle of managed care), and has recently provided some of the "gatekeepers" to managed care with financial incentives to control access in a cost-effective fashion, another necessary requirement for managed care to work.