Q-Med's Second Gamble

Disease management is a distinctly unproprietary business; different disease management companies can easily steal each other’s ideas along with their patients. Moreover, as attractive an opportunity as it appears—proper disease management can save billions by preventing overutilization of medical services—managed care companies haven’t really embraced it to its full potential.

The problem: apart from a few high-cost diseases, like asthma and diabetes, disease management costs a plan more in the...