Health care economics is changing--the law is sure to follow

Law is intimately related to economics. As the economic relationships in a market change, the legal landscape evolves accordingly. Even if no health care reform is enacted at the federal level, ever-increasing portions of today's managed indemnity sector will convert to plans constraining enrollee choice and seeking to deliver cost-effective care through risk-sharing relationships (both corporate and contractual) with providers. This is inevitable, given employer and federal government pricing demands, and it is changing the face of health care law. If federal reform is enacted and/or the systems adopted in Minnesota, Maryland, Washington, and Florida (to name a few) are replicated elsewhere, the legal concerns of physicians and other providers will shift even more dramatically. In this article, some of the legal fall-out from these economic developments is discussed.