Exclusive Survey—Managed Care: Your dependence grows

For doctors, as for their patients, PPOs have become the most prevalent form of managed care. In 1995, when we published our first report on capitation and managed care, 68 percent of FPs who responded and 71 percent of internists indicated they had at least one PPO contract. A decade later, those numbers have jumped to 82 percent and 86 percent, respectively. Other specialties also have embraced PPOs. GPs have gone from 58 percent participation to 72 percent, ob/gyns from 79 to 86 percent, and cardiologists from 69 to 85 percent.

As it was 10 years ago, managed care, generally, remains strongest in the West, especially in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington. But now, it's a genuinely national phenomenon.