Managed Care

Changing social structures are leading to evolving approaches to the delivery of health care. The roles of the various professional providers of health care also are in a state of transition. Societal changes also are occurring that impact the ethical bases of the functioning of health care delivery systems. Managed care is an evolving approach to the delivery of health care that affects each of these other factors (MacStravic, 1996, pp. 20-23).

Fiscal constraints have caused the United States Congress to initiate actions designed to change the Medicare and Medicaid programs as a way to save money in the form of federal government expenditures (Ellentuck, 1994, p. 78). A leading reform measure for the American health care system generally envisions the widespread implementation of the managed care concept (Kane, 1995, pp. 1690-1691). While managed care is hailed by proponents as a means of conserving health care dollars, many advocates for the elderly and the poor fear that the quality of health care provided to these population groups, and in turn, the quality of life of the majority of the members of these population groups may deteriorate substantially under a managed care regime (Aronson, 1995, pp. 213-231).

Reform of the health care system in the United States is a volatile issue. Costs are the primary concern of funding providers, while a continuation of the opportunity to earn pr

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hysician behavior induced by the widespread implementation of managed care (Blumenthal, 1996, pp. 170-184). One of the potential problems often cited with respect to the growing role of for-profit hospitals in the delivery of health care services in the United States is the tendency for such institutions to target only the most lucrative health care business. When for-profit hospitals are successful in this type of marketing effort, the non-profit hospital generally is burdened with the responsibility for providing health care services to those individuals in society who are least able to fund their own care. The fact that a large proportion of these individuals are not covered by hospitalization insurance, together with the increasing reluctance on the part of government to fully fund health care services, places an increasingly large responsibility on the non-profit institutions. In the delivery of health care services through non-profit or public sector organizations, it is not always possible to deliver all services, or to deliver specific services at the highest level (Kajander & Samuels, 1996, pp. 17-22). The reason for this situation involves the scarcity of resources, particularly financial resources. The positive si
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Approximate Word count = 2500
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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