MANAGED CARE September 2006. ©MediMedia USA
Putting out a business magazine is a creative venture and, as in all such efforts, much happens that isn't planned. I am often surprised by how articles that are assigned to different writers at different times wend their lonely routes toward the same destination — one that wasn't on the horizon during the planning stage. Lately, all roads (or article research, anyway) seem to lead to consumer-directed health care.
A frequent theme in this, our September issue, is patient adherence, which I suppose can be seen as a suburb of CDHC. Adherence points to that mythic hero, the educated and involved consumer, who is the cornerstone of a system that proponents promise is of the consumer, for the consumer, and ultimately by the consumer. (That's if you don't see CDHC as just some old-fashioned cost shifting in sparkling, trendy clothes. I suspect that when it all plays out there will be substantial evidence for both views.)
We have a story about how pharmaceutical companies are working more closely with health plans and employers to encourage patient adherence with medication regimens [1]. Lobbyist, consultant, and former bureaucrat Jeanne Scott, the subject of our provocative Q&A [2], wants to see health care come into the information age, with information that patients can actually understand. The Employer Update column talks about how plans are offering "health coaching." [3] Even our cover story on the future of managed Medicare [4], though not ostensibly about adherence, talks about elements of care (disease management, most obviously) in which adherence plays a vital role. And Mark McClellan is promoting CDHC initiatives in the Medicare program.
Meanwhile, adherence to our role — informing readers — means being constantly surprised and challenged by covering a dynamic industry.