Joining forces to make managed health care work.

Despite the failure of managed care to infuse cost effectiveness into the nation's healthcare system, structured health plans can be made to work. The rules must be rewritten so that risk-sharing and gain-sharing are more equitably spread among providers, payers, and consumers, according to a recently published book, Making Managed Healthcare Work: A Practical Guide to Strategies and Solutions. This excerpt from the book reflects on basic underpinnings of managed care, its successes and failures, the perspectives of key players, and how trends in managed care will affect the healthcare industry overall.