Policy tools for building health education and preventive counseling into managed care

Six policy tools for building health education and preventive counseling into managed care are presented, and the opportunities and barriers to implementing each are described based largely on managed care plans operating in California in 1998. The six policy tools include (1) covering health education and preventive counseling as defined benefits, (2) increasing access to and use of health promotion programs, (3) incorporating health education into disease-management programs, (4) defining quality performance measures for health education and preventive counseling, (5) defining performance targets and guarantees for health education and preventive counseling to hold health plans accountable for providing these services, and (6) building collaboration between public health agencies and managed care on public health education and health promotion. For each of these, the policy option is described, examples of current practice are provided, and the problems and limitations associated with each are discussed.