The Role of Managed Care Organizations within the Healthcare Industry

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.