The health care industry in the United States is very diverse and dynamic. The continued growth of managed health care is influenced by the economy, the need, and the regulatory regulations set forth on the industry. If one of these forces changes, it can affect the entire group; this causes the managed health care industry to be at the mercy of its roots and the industry’s need for it. What started out as a simple idea has turned into a complex and ever growing industry that is necessary for the health care industry to stay afloat in the world today. The health care system is ever changing and it appears that change is the only constant in the managed care organizations. Despite the constant changes in managed health care and the blurring of types of health care plans, it is important to understand exactly what a particular plan includes. Without this knowledge the managed health care users, may find themselves in a binding situation when they try to use their insurance at certain hospital and other health care organizations. Health maintenance organizations or HMO’s continue to penetrate the market in most market areas in most states. These health maintenance organizations continue to offer an array of different plans with features that vary in their ability to balance cost, access of care, flexibility in health care, and their design of benefits (Kongstvedt, 2001). During the last two decades, managed care had gone from a relatively small part of the health care system to being the mainstream manner in which any employer-insured person obtains their health care. It is hard to pin point an exact definition of managed health care and it is nearly impossible to explain the exact benefits its users will reap, because this type ... ... middle of paper ... ...h care system. By developing different plans, with different costs, and different networks, the insurance industry has been able to make health care available to more patients; by allowing people to receive health care without having to pay the entire bill out of pocket, and the customer is able to reap these benefits for a minimal cost per month. While there may be some critics out there that only view health insurance companies as big business and out to collect their pay, without health insurance most citizens of the Unites States would not be able to afford the care they need. Works Cited Burton,C.V. (2011). Managed health care (a good idea gone wrong). The Burton Report, XI. Retrieved from http://www.burtonreport.com.infhealthcare.managedhlthcare.htm Kongstvedt, P. R. (2007). Essentials of managed health care. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett.
To guarantee that its members receive appropriate, high level quality care in a cost-effective manner, each managed care organization (MCO) tailors its networks according to the characteristics of the providers, consumers, and competitors in a specific market. Other considerations for creating the network are the managed care organization's own goals for quality, accessibility, cost savings, and member satisfaction. Strategic planning for networks is a continuing process. In addition to an initial evaluation of its markets and goals, the managed care organization must periodically reevaluate its target markets and objectives. After reviewing the markets, then the organization must modify its network strategies accordingly to remain competitive in the rapidly changing healthcare industry. Coventry Health Care, Inc and its affiliated companies recognize the importance of developing and managing an adequate network of qualified providers to serve the need of customers and enrolled members (Coventry Health Care Intranet, Creasy and Spath, http://cvtynet/ ). "A central goal of managed care is containing the costs of delivering care, but the wide variety of organizations typically lumped together under the umbrella of managed care pursue this goal using combination of numerous strategies that vary from market to market and from organization to organization" (Baker , 2000, p.2).
The strategic plan for 2015 led to a membership growth of 650,000 members. The main internal driver for the astounding growth, being managed care offered at 20% to 25% less than the surrounding competitors (Brooking Institution, 2015). The more membership growth the more profitable Kaiser becomes based managed care system. Kaiser Permanente’s growth can be related to high scores amongst CMS and it’s highly recommended operation structure amongst the healthcare industry. According to the CMS “2016 Star Ratings Fact Sheet,” Kaiser Permanente represents five of 12 medicare health plans (with Parts C and D) that earned 5 stars — and of the 1.6 million beneficiaries enrolled in those 5-star plans nationwide, 81 percent are Kaiser Permanente Medicare members (Kaiser press release). The Kaiser Permanente Medicare plans since 2009 have always been operating at a high performance
Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) is a group of individual health plans that are intended to provide services for costumers’ that purchase insurance policies and for those that cannot afford health insurance. Many of these organization are led by physicians, and other professionals that network together to make health care affordable for patients. In the HMO category there are five separate managed care plan models. First, the Group Model (HMO), is a group that has a number of physicians that mainly agree to provide care to a defined group of patients in return for a fix rate capita payment for discounted fees from insurance companies (Henderson, 2012 p.212).
Davidson, Stephen M. Still Broken: Understanding the U.S. Health Care System. Stanford, CA: Stanford Business, 2010. Print.
Managed Care Organizations (MCO’s) formed in the 1970’s. There are two organizations that fall under the MCO umbrella commonly known as HMO’s and PPO’s. With HMO’s, the primary care physician acts as a chief liaison, thus organizing services and treatment for the patient. With the organizational structure of HMO plans, patients must see the PCP to access specialized services they may need; however, PPO plans allow additional flexibility for the patient by allowing the patient to choose providers within the network relieving the primary care physician of acting as a gateway keeper.
When one examines managed health care and the hospitals that provide the care, a degree of variation is found in the treatment and care of their patients. This variation can be between hospitals or even between physicians within a health care network. For managed care companies the variation may be beneficial. This may provide them with opportunities to save money when it comes to paying for their policy holder’s care, however this large variation may also be detrimental to the insurance company. This would fall into the category of management of utilization, if hospitals and managed care organizations can control treatment utilization, they can control premium costs for both themselves and their customers (Rodwin 1996). If health care organizations can implement prevention as a way to warrant good health with their consumers, insurance companies can also illuminate unnecessary health care. These are just a few examples of how the health care industry can help benefit their patients, but that does not mean every issue involving physician over utilization or quality of care is erased because there is a management mechanism set in place.
Health Maintenance Organizations, or HMO’s, are a very important part of the American health care system. Also referred to as managed care programs, HMO's are combinations of doctors and insurance companies that are formed into one organization. This organization provides treatment to its members at fixed costs and decides on what treatment, if any, will be given based on the patient's or doctor's current health plan. Sometimes, no treatment is given at all. HMO's main concerns are to control costs and supposedly provide the best possible treatment to their patients. But it seems to the naked eye that instead their main goal is to get more people enrolled so that they can maintain or raise current premiums paid by consumers using their service. For HMO's, profit comes first- not patients' lives.
Twenty-first century health care system in United States is not only complex, but also profoundly different from "what it used to be." The changes are numerous and represent the major shifts involved in moving from protection and delivery plan, based primarily on what the patient wanted, to a skeptically managed healthcare system. The American health care system has seen drastic changes within couple generations and it continues to evolve.
(W. Lease, personal communication, July 23, 2010), the “unknown” of the recent health care reform legislation is an external influence that is most relevant to our organization, stated by William Lease, senior vice president of clinical support services. Mr. Lease states, that health care reform legislation will impact our organization in many ways; especially after 2014. While more employees will have health insurance coverage and there will be more patients to treat; the need for controlling costs and improving efficiency is i...
Wise, N., & Taylor, F. (n.d.) Moving Forward With Reform: The Health Plan Pulse for 2012 and Beyond. Retrieved January 16, 2012 from
Unfortunately, this era also witnessed tumor in the medical community as the American Medical Association (AMA) greatly opposed the prepaid plans of the early 1900s while favoring the indemnity- type insurance that reimbursed policyholders. Therefore with the pioneers of prepaid services encountering daring degrees of oppositions, a strategy to discourage such opposition led to the development of the early Independent practice associations (IPA) model HMO (Fox & Kongstvedt, 2015; Kongstvedt, 2009).
Managed care is one of the leading form health care in the United States. It has become very popular and many people in the United States have taken advantage of it. There are a few different types of managed care programs: Health Maintenance Organizations or HMOs, Preferred Provider Organizations or PPOs, and Point of Service Plans or POSs. Each one of these types of managed care plans has its pros and cons (Cyrene, 2015). If you would ask a few people what types of insurance they have, they are more than likely going to name off a managed care plan because it is more common to find someone with a managed care plan than not. Managed care has changed the healthcare system in many ways, some for the good and
What is managed care? According to the Oxford English Dictionary, managed care is “a system of health care in which patients agree to visit only certain doctors and hospitals, and in which the cost of treatment is monitored by a managing company.” Managed care is a variety of techniques designed to reduce the cost of providing health benefits and advance the quality of care. In the United States alone, there are various managed care programs, that are ranged from more restrictive to less restrictive. As stated in the National Institutes of Health, the future of managed care is uncertain. It is enthralling to note that in spite of the advances in healthcare systems, such as our hospital’s ability to provide patients with lower cost, managed
In conclusion, managed care integrates the functions of financing, insurance, delivery, and payment within an organization. It also exercises formal control over utilization. Managed care is viewed as accepting the lowest competitive bid for services rendered. Today, HMOs and PPOs are the most common and widely used models for managed care. Although managed care is here to stay, it requires revision in some areas. Challenges that are to be faced include double agentry, fidelity, confidentiality, honesty, and vulnerability. With the help and guidance of health information professionals, managed care will continue to escalade and become better for all.
Managed health care actually combines health care delivery with the financing of services provided. This was intended to replace conventional fee-for service plans with much more affordable quality of care to the health consumers as well as the providers who was in agreement with the restrictions. However, managed care is becoming challenged due to the growth of consumer-directed health plans, which defines employer continuations and asking employees to be more responsible within their health care decisions and cost-sharing. The Americans health care system has been changing the way their health care services are organized and delivered. As seen by the movement from traditional fee-for-service systems to managed care networks. Ranging from structured staff model HMOs to the lesser structured preferred provider organizations (PPO). Statistics show that 60 million Americans are enrolled with some type of managed care program within the response to regulatory initiatives which affect health care cost and quality. Managed care organizations are responsible for the health of their enrollees, which can be administered by a physician’s group, health system, or even a hospital. Much of the managed care financing is through a method called capitation, and the enrollees are assigned to a select primary care provider, which serves as a gatekeeper.