Public Agency Strategies, Collaborative Contracting, and Medicaid Managed Care

Abstract The nature of the interactions between the organizational entities involved in contracting receives less attention than the efficiency of the procurement and distribution of those services. This is particularly true in periods of policy turbulence, where tensions are high and environments unstable. This study builds on earlier theoretical contributions by cataloging almost 100 different strategies in interviews with state agencies and related policy experts, then distilling important traits and modifying earlier analytical constructs to reflect the empirical findings. The result is a new understanding of the range of relationships and extent of collaboration in contracting interactions at different points in the policy process. This study contributes to the literature not only through the elicitation and nature of these contracting strategies but also by contributing to the theoretical underpinnings of both collaboration in contracting and how such relationships provide a means of navigating periods of policy turbulence.