Bibliography

This paper presents information from an investigation of managed care in Zimbabwe by a large medical aid society. The authors contend that it is more important for health managers in middle and lower income countries to become familiar with the many concepts and tools of managed care than the ever-changing organisational forms found in the United States. The question should not be whether HMOs or PPOs as developed in the US are adaptable to other countries, but what specific tools to improve the financing and provision of care are appropriate in other, i.e. non-US health care systems. Focusing on specific managed care mechanisms rather than organisational forms, however, does not eliminate or even necessarily reduce management or policy concerns. Managers, policy-makers and regulators in every environment should be conscious of potentially serious issues relating to quality and access.