Information management for managed care

A key concern for medical groups is how to manage information in a dual environment of capitation and fee for service. Information systems that work for one may not work for the other. Finding a system that works for both is critical. Some of the data that would be beneficial to collect for starting managing capitation contracts include: age/sex ratios of the practice patient population, average number of visits per patient per year, average number of visits by ICD-9 code for total population, average procedures per patient per year, and analysis of paverage payment per visit/procedure for commercial and Medicare patients. Some of the major concerns addressed include operational issues, financial viability and automated billing systems.