Medicaid managed care and community providers: New partnerships

Growing enrollment in managed care plans among Medicaid recipients represents a new market for these plans but presents challenges to those providers that traditionally have served this population. To continue serving Medicaid patients, community-based providers must develop contracts or other types of partnerships with Medicaid-contracting health plans. This paper reviews the challenges to such collaboration and discusses the practical issues that plans and community-based providers must resolve to develop productive working relationships. Keys to successful collaboration are identified. Ways in which federal and state governments can help the collaborative process are suggested.