Managed care is perceived as one of the most effective approaches to restricting measures of healthcare expenditures. It regulates the payment system for patients by basing strategy on specific policies and contracting with healthcare organizations. Before its introduction in 1973, the US healthcare system was criticized for its ineffectiveness in the long run. As a result, starting from the middle of the 20th century, the state and numerous enormous privately owned businesses agitated their employees to join prepaid types of medical care systems, and prepaid healthcare practice developed gradually (Ethoven et al., 2019). Today, managed care is implemented almost in every region of the United States. The studies show that managed care provides a competitive space where the best treatment option is chosen for a particular patient. It is promising as a future healthcare planning program since it supplies the population with proper medication at an affordable cost.
There are many studies that analyze the impact of managed care. Unfortunately, most of them focus only on a short-term effect. Therefore, the observations’ results vary depending on the time an individual was under the care system. In general, the managed care system is beneficial in both financial and treatment aspects to those who stay loyal to the insurer (Kauer, 2016). Nevertheless, both short-term and long-term users of managed care pay less for the therapy in comparison to individuals who use other healthcare systems. Managed care customers do not have to undergo unnecessary consultations with a doctor. Thus, the program establishes affordable healthcare for many people.
In addition, the promotion of managed care leads to a reduced number of deaths due to illness. There is a decreased mortality rate associated with chronic diseases after implementing care planning organizations (Kauer, 2016). The most well-known program of managed care is Medicaid which effectively administrates healthcare expenditures (Ndumele, 2017). It performs regular screening of people who are under the program and assess the potential risks to health. Thus, a disease with severe cases can be avoided since the program navigates people on needed medical consultations (Ndumele, 2017). As a result, managed care minimizes the risk of developing a complicated form of the disease.
Furthermore, the care policy launches a competition among various healthcare planning companies. It tries to choose the best option for both its enrolees and hospitals. In managed care, hospitals do not waste their medication and supplies since they deliver treatment only to those in need (Enthoven et al., 2019). The program’s aim is to match the needs and abilities of their customers with the motivations of hospitals and physicians.
Moreover, managed care systems try to supply the hospitals with the necessary equipment to ensure health service delivery in time. For instance, Medicaid care plans to provide a platform that will help its enrollees and hospitals share the information and solve their non-medical issues (Ndumele, 2017). This way, the community will be healthier, and people will be more connected to the care deliverers.
In conclusion, managed care proves to be a considerably effective instrument to provide fair treatment for all. Its goal is to administrate the care level and hospitals’ needs in the most beneficial way. In the long run, Medicaid care proves to be an efficient program that can transform communication quality with its customers and improve the population’s health.
References
Enthoven, A., Fuchs, V. R., & Shortell, S. M. (2019). To control costs, expand managed care and managed competition. Journal of the American Medical Association,322(21), 2075. Web.
Ndumele, C. D., Cohen, M. S., & Cleary, P. D. (2017). Association of state access standards with accessibility to specialists for Medicaid managed care enrollees. Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine, 177(10), 1445. Web.
Kauer, L. (2016). Long-term effects of managed care. Health Economics, 26(10), 1210–1223. Web.