Medicare/Medicaid restructuring. Challenges and opportunities of managed care

The restructuring of the Medicare and Medicaid programs poses significant operational, legislative, and mission challenges for the Catholic health ministry. This report highlights meetings held in Chicago and Philadelphia in November and December 1996 to prepare healthcare leaders for the changes that are coming. The meetings were two of seven held across the country last fall. Cosponsored by the National Coalition on Catholic Health Care Ministry, the Catholic Health Care Association (CHA), and Consolidated Catholic Health Care, these regional conferences were part of New Covenant, a process to strengthen the Catholic presence in healthcare through regional and national collaborative strategies. The meetings blended operational and mission concerns. On the first day, speakers reinforced mission as the ministry's foundation and market advantage, and they defined opportunities and strategic responses to the restructuring of the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The second day's sessions moved into collaborative strategies for dealing with Medicare and Medicaid changes. The day concluded with CHA's public policy proposals related to these programs' restructuring.