Managed Care

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer discusses that the situation of health care in the United States has been, according to many experts, at a near disastrous level for many years. The concerns are many, one of which is that the for-profit system in health care has created a system where profit rather than care and quality drive the system and the care of patients. The writer explains that the managed care system, attempts to profit by providing less care, through limiting the services that patients can have and creating insular systems of care that above all keep costs down. The writer concludes that now the managed care system seems to be stepping in the right direction and keeping away from early failures, toward one where preventative medication has been doubted as the way to reduce cost.

From the Paper:

"In this climate a new system emerges, called managed care, again with the intention of profit, but with a differing approach. The managed care system, attempts to profit by providing less care, through limiting the services patients can have and creating insular systems of care that above all keep costs down. There have been many bugs to work out and consumers have again bore the brunt of the changes as for many years in its infancy the infrastructure was not quick enough to allow patients the level of care they needed in certain situations and trust in the greater community, as well as the government and the historically well voiced medical community consisting of doctors who see payments decline and regulations increase and fear personal loss."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Birenbaum, A. (1997). Managed Care: Made in America. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
• Folta, J., & Scanlon, J. (2004, April). Community Health Care Reform: Introducing the 100%/0 Campaign. Public Management, 86, 26.
• Pauly, M., & Berger, M. L. (1999). Chapter Three Why Should Managed Care Be Regulated?. In Regulating Managed Care: Theory, Practice, and Future Options, Altman, S. H., Reinhardt, U. E., & Shactman, D. (Eds.) (pp. 53-74). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Zelman, W. (1999). Chapter One An Overview. In Regulating Managed Care: Theory, Practice, and Future Options, Altman, S. H., Reinhardt, U. E., & Shactman, D. (Eds.) (pp. 5-27). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Zelman, W. A., & Berenson, R. A. (1998). The Managed Care Blues and How to Cure Them. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

More papers on Managed Care:

• Essay # 36990 : "Managed Care"
• Research Paper # 92286 : "Managed Care and the Patient-Physician Relationship"
• Term Paper # 139722 : "Counseling in the Managed Care Environment"
• Essay # 89147 : "Managed Care in the United States"

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