Assess the History of Managed Care

History of Managed Care

According to the United States Library of Medicine (2012), managed care is intended to reduce unnecessary health care costs through a variety of mechanisms, including:

  1. Economic incentives for physicians and patients to select less costly forms of care.
  2. Programs for reviewing the medical necessity of specific services.
  3. Increased beneficiary cost sharing.
  4. Controls on inpatient admissions and lengths of stay.
  5. The establishment of cost-sharing incentives for outpatient surgery.
  6. Selective contracting with health care providers.
  7. The intensive management of high-cost health care cases.

In order to define managed health care and to understand its impact, you must first understand the concept as well as the history of managed health care. This will then provide a clear foundation upon which an assessment of the impact of managed health care can be based. This is important; as a doctoral student, you must have an in-depth knowledge of health care, particularly as you begin to think about your research topic.

Week 1 Assignment: Assess the History of Managed Care

Activity Description

Managed health care has a lengthy history characterized by success and in some cases customer dissatisfaction. Nonetheless millions of people rely on some form of managed health care. Historically, this country’s health care industry was made up of a large number of independent health care providers who owned their own practices. These were either solo practices or practices jointly owned by physicians who practiced together in a clinic setting. Furthermore, almost all communities of any size had their own hospital, most of which were independent from one another. These facilities were frequently run as nonprofit institutions. The provision of basic medical-surgical services has always involved a broad continuum of care. To be effective, a managed care organization must align the financial incentives and goals of all the parties: the health plan with its benefits and the providers who deliver care.

For you to fully understand this important cornerstone concept, research and then write an analytical paper on the history of managed care.

In your paper, address the following:

  1. Validate the meaning of managed care as it has been used in health care using relevant scenarios to support your reasoning.
  2. Examine the history of managed health care systems taking your reader chronologically through its evolution.
  3. Assess the impact of managed care on the public’s health.
  4. Ascertain your role as a healthcare leader in the management of an effective healthcare system.

Support your paper with a minimum of five scholarly sources within the last five (5) years in APA format. In addition to these specified resources, other appropriate scholarly resources, including older articles, may be included.

Length: 5-7 pages, not including title and reference pages

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