Hospitals
Hospitals in areas dominated by managed care adopt new medical technology at slower rates, a study in the Journal of Health Economics found.
Researchers evaluated the adoption of 13 technologies from 1982 to 1995 and found that the expansion of managed care plans contributed to a slower acquisition of technologies by hospitals, especially for technologies that are less profitable for hospitals.
Slow rates of technology adoption may contribute to long-term cost savings in the health care market, according to the study.
The study recommends further investigation into whether managed care curtails the quality of patient care by limiting the availability of technologies and whether patients benefit from greater access to the most profitable technologies (Mas/Seinfeld, Journal of Health Economics, July 2008).