Medicaid Managed Care - U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging

THE STATE OF THE INDUSTRY
JULY 8, 1997
U.S. SENATE.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING,
Washington, DC.
The forum met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m., in the Dirksen
<strong>Senate</strong> Office Building. Ms. Susan Christensen, Public Policy Fellow,
presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF MS. SUSAN CHRISTENSEN
Ms. CHRISTENSEN. Good morning. I'm glad you were able to come
this morning.
I am Susan Christensen, and I am a Public Policy Fellow with
the Aging <strong>Committee</strong> Staff, Senator Grassley's staff. Also here
today is Ken Cohen from Senator Breaux's staff and I think some
other folks are here. Is anybody else here from tie <strong>Committee</strong>? [No
response.]
OK This is the second in a series of four forums on managed
care for people with special needs. If you were here for the first
forum on June 24, you heard that the <strong>Committee</strong>'s interest in this
topic greatly increased following a hearing we conducted on individuals
with chronic conditions who were dually eligible for <strong>Medicaid</strong>
and Medicare.
We discovered that many studies and anecdotal evidence revealed
significant issues that still need to be resolved when serving
people with special needs under a managed care plan. We divided
those issues roughly into four main themes, which are the topics
of our four forums.
At the first forum, we got a picture of what it means to be a person
with special needs. Presenters described how health care needs
to be delivered in certain ways for it to be effective, illustrating
that people with chronic conditions don't just need more doctor or
therapy visits; care must be individualized to the person's needs.
Today our theme is the ability of the current managed care industry
to do just that-deliver health care effectively to individuals
with a wide variety of specialized needs.
Our panelists will each do a short presentation, and then we will
have time for questions and discussion, so please jot down any
questions that come to mind as you listen. These folks are great
sources of information, so we hope that you will take advantage of
this opportunity.
There are two more forums after this. Next Tuesday, July 15, we
will focus specifically on how managed care plans, or any health
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