Competition for insured patients threatens the financial viability of various health care providers for the poor, and, in turn, access to care among uninsured populations. In the mid 1990s, case studies suggested that some family planning clinics were becoming primary care providers as one strategy to attract managed care contracts and retain patients. This study relied on national data to investigate this strategy more fully. In order to examine contextual and center-specific predictors of managed care contracting, logistic regression was applied in cross sectional analyses of all 147 Planned Parenthood affiliates operational in 1996 and a representative sample of 98 family planning centers drawn from the 1994 National Survey of Women's Health Centers. Surprisingly, no association was found between primary care services and having managed care contracts, which suggests that family planning centers are contracting on their niche services and are not using primary care as a contracting strategy. Only a small proportion of centers had contracts to provide primary care services. Since a large proportion of women who rely on family planning centers do so as their primary source of care, the results underscore the need for referrals and coordination with other providers in order to ensure that low-income women without Medicaid or private insurance have access to comprehensive primary health care services.
Learning Objectives: Learning objectives include knowledge of the predictors of managed care contracting among family planning centers and strategies undertaken by centers to attract managed care contracts
Keywords: Managed Care, Family Planning
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.