Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject Medicine - Medical Frontiers and Special Areas, grade: 1, Egerton University, language: English, abstract: This paper will provide a comprehensive overview of managed care, primarily on the advantages and disadvantages of managed care organizations. Over the decades, the United States’ healthcare system has been experiencing challenges. In general, the cost and quality of care has always been considered as the most critical factors that influence healthcare sustainability in the United States and the world, as a whole. As a result, a series of value-based payment reforms have been introduced. For instance, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 introduced payment and delivery system reforms. From a critical perspective, the reforms introduced by the ACA have addressed the long-standing problems which have been posing enormous hindrances to the development of the U.S. healthcare system. Above all, it has enhanced managed care through consolidating care, as well as, addressing the problem of unsustainable costs and uneven quality of care. However, managed care seems to exhibit some drawbacks too.

Managed care has produced dramatic changes in the treatment of mental health and substance abuse problems, known as behavioral health. Managing Managed Care offers an urgently needed assessment of managed care for behavioral health and a framework for purchasing, delivering, and ensuring the quality of behavioral health care. It presents the first objective analysis of the powerful multimillion-dollar accreditation industry and the key accrediting organizations. Managing Managed Care draws evidence-based conclusions about the effectiveness of behavioral health treatments and makes recommendations that address consumer protections, quality improvements, structure and financing, roles of public and private participants, inclusion of special populations, and ethical issues. The volume discusses trends in managed behavioral health care, highlighting the emerging role of the purchaser. The committee explores problems of overlap and fragmentation in the delivery of behavioral health care and discusses the issue of access, a special concern when private systems are restricted and public systems overburdened. Highly applicable to the larger health care system, this volume will be of particular interest to all stakeholders in behavioral healthâ€"federal and state policymakers, public and private purchasers, health care providers and administrators, consumers and consumer advocates, accrediting organizations, and health services researchers.

This book traces the growth of managed care as a mechanism for curbing excessive growth in health costs, and the controversies that have risen around for-profit health care. Also examined are decentralization in US health care, and the absence of comprehensive health care planning, access rules, and minimum health care benefit standards. Finally, the author proposes a framework for improving access to quality, affordable health care in a competitive market environment.

Health Insurance and Managed Care: What They Are and How They Work (formerly titled Managed Care: What It Is and How It Works) is a concise introduction to the foundations of the American managed health care system. Written in clear and accessible language, this handy guide offers an historical overview of managed care and then walks the reader through the organizational structures, concepts, and practices of the managed care industry. The Fourth Edition is a thorough update that addresses the impact of the Affordable Care Act throughout the industry including: - New underwriting requirements - New marketing and sales channels - Limitations on sales, governance, and administrative (SG&A) costs and profits - New provider organizations such as Patient Centered Medical Homes (PCHMs) and Accountable Care Organizations (ACO’s) - New payment mechanisms such as shared savings with ACOs, and severity-adjusted diagnosis related groups - Changes to Medicare Advantage - Medicaid expansion and reliance on Medicaid managed care

This edited collection--written by the movers and shakers in the industry--provides a "big picture" look at the rapidly changing health care environment. The book explores the important issues affecting the move to a managed care such as measuring and monitoring quality, mergers, the physician-patient relations, , and reconfiguring the work force.

The new Third Edition of Managed Health Care: What It Is and How It Works is a concise introduction to the foundations of the American managed health care system. Written in clear and accessible language, this handy guide offers an historical overview of managed care and then walks the reader through the organizational structures, concepts, and practices of the managed care industry. This thorough revision has been completely updated with all the newest data on this dynamic industry and features all new sections on: pay for performance, consumer directed health plans, new approaches to care management, as well as advances in information technology.

This thoroughly revised and updated book provides a strategic and operational resource for use in planning and decision-making. The Handbook enables readers to fine-tune operation strategies by providing updates on critical managed care issues, insights to the complex managed care environment, and methods to gain and maintain cost-efficient, high quality health services. With 30 new chapters, it includes advice from managers in the field on how to succeed in every aspect of managed care including: quality management, claims and benefits administration, and managing patient demand. The Handbook is considered to be the standard resource for the managed care industry.