MANAGED CARE DATA AND PUBLIC-HEALTH - THE EXPERIENCE OF GROUP-HEALTH-COOPERATIVE OF PUGET-SOUND

Traditional group and staff model HMOs have contributed to public heal th investigations for decades. HMOs offer several advantages for this type of research because of their defined population and provider grou ps and the integrated nature of care delivery in these organizations. Traditional HMOs have also made investments in sophisticated data syst ems to support evidence-based care that is supported by high-quality c linical data available in automated information systems. This paper re views why traditional HMOs are ideal places to conduct public health r esearch and analyzes how recent market trends may threaten this role f or managed care.