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Managed Care Research Paper

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NORTHCENTRAL UNIVERSITY ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET Student: Heffern, Sandra_HCA7019-8-1 HCA7019-1 Steven Ziemba, Ph.D. Managerial Leadership within Managed Health Care Systems 1 Faculty Use Only (-- removed HTML --) (-- removed HTML --) (-- removed HTML --) (-- removed HTML --) Assess the History of Managed Care HCA7019-8-1 Sandra J Heffern Dr. Steven Ziemba May 4, 2018 Abstract Healthcare in the United States has reached a level of complexity which has perplexed Presidents, Congressional members and private industry for over a century (Palmer, 1999). While the healthcare system has evolved over the last century, policy decisions which have attempted to effectuate changes to cost, quality and access have been …show more content…

The concept generates images of large healthcare entities managing the administrative protocols of prior authorization or denials to the actual delivery of care through a facility or network of healthcare providers. Hacker and Marmor (1999) described several meanings of the term managed care with the most applicable to the menagerie of forms managed care can take being a combination of the financing and delivery of healthcare services. While this particular study is dated, the authors contend any managed care structure features administrative oversight, patient steerage to a particular provider entity or network and the amount of risk-sharing whether at an individual or group level. These features continue to be true today as organizations explore the benefits offered to employees through managed care structures such as preferred provider organizations, clinically integrated networks, and accountable care organizations. As a healthcare provider, the goal is to provide access to healthcare which is affordable, offers access to providers of choice and engages with providers who provide the highest quality …show more content…

Preferred provider organizations offer flexibility in benefit design and allow patients flexibility to choose from a list of in-network providers for their care. Care provided in-network typically is discounted with out of network services resulting in higher out of pocket expenses to the patient (Hirth, Grazier, Chernew and Okeke, 2007). Clinically integrated networks are a more recently developed managed care structure. In this model, independent practitioners form a virtual network as a means of increasing capacity for contracting with payers of healthcare whether commercial insurance or for self-insured organizations. Physicians recognize advantages to collaborative contracting and the increase in coordinating care of patients through the network (Kaplan and Guest, 2012). Commercial insurance companies are looking to clinically integrated networks as another mechanism to control the costs of healthcare delivery. Accountable care organizations, as with clinically integrated networks, are fairly recent phenomenon with similar but more formalized characteristics. An accountable care organization is a structured network of healthcare entities which have united and are responsible for the health of an identified population. The accountable care organization shares the risk of meeting the health needs of

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