ABSTRACT
In health care, it is necessary for a contracted reimbursement strategy to remain increasingly flexible because of the many factors that influence change in the industry, including but not limited to:
◾ Insurance company market consolidation and dwindling HMO enrollments. ◾ Employer abandonment of traditional managed care health insurance cov-
erage for employees and adoption of high-deductible policies. ◾ Increasingly prudent buyers who “shop” the cost of care and have the
freedom to cross traditional geographic catchment areas, due to both the elimination of in-network “tethers” and the freedom to pay for travel to access care across the street or across the world out of both health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) and health service agreement (HSAs) and other consumer driven savings accounts.
