Oncology and Managed Care
Oncology and Managed Care
Managed care does not contain costs nor improves access to quality health care
The original intention of managed care was to cut down costs and offer quality healthcare services (Ethroven, 1993). With this arrangement, the young and healthy enrollees are benefit since managed care emphasizes on prevention and wellness. According to managed care (2003), employees were originally isolated and on their own, they could not afford medical care. With managed care, employees are forced to use predetermined providers. In addition, employees should attain preventative care and attainment of healthier lifestyles while encouraging cost effective care and monitoring of care quality on a continuing basis. However, the cost efficient and quality services are far from being achieved.
While the young and healthy enrollees benefit from prevention and wellness, the elderly and those in need of medical attention from serious and life threatening diseases find it problematic (Bailes, 2000). For the elderly and those suffering from life threatening diseases such as cancer, the public concern is whether necessary care will be easily accessed when needed. Today, expectations of life-threatening diseases cure are rising with often expensive modern drugs and technology. However, managed care does not offer care for such patients leaving them vulnerable.
Health plans, on one hand, are struggling to survive thereby seeking ways to cut down costs. Patients at the same time want access to competitive and equipped technology. Despite been extremely expensive, patients understand that such technology is promising. With such competing interests, however, it is clear that the healthcare system is getting complex thereby demanding the attention of policymakers and requiring collaboration amongst health plans, providers and patients.
Bailes (2000) also argues that despite cutting down medical inflation, managed care fails to address the issue of health care quality and cost cutting. Sekri (2000) argues that there have been rising health care premium costs which employers have absorbed with ease. However, Sekri (2000) argues that, in future, increase in premiums will be passed down to employees or it will force employers to stop offering managed care coverage (Enthoven, 1993).
With increasing costs of health care insurance, sustainable containing of costs requires structural changes in systems of healthcare financing and delivery to meet customer and providers expectations. This is a serious problem that would result to the increase in the number of uninsured Americans. Through their intentions to contain the costs of health, managed care plans are neglect disease management, incentives alignment, health education and prevention. As a result, this has affected the quality of health services provided to patients. Quality of care is categorized into constrained access to healthcare specialist, denials of care and restrictions on the length of hospitalization.
The quality of health provided by managed care is limited to the nature of the health condition. Underutilization of managed care is as a result of poor health equipments, technologies and professionals to deliver such services in order to cut costs (Sekri, 2000). Underutilization of preventive and primary care can result to advanced illnesses whose early treatment or avoidance was possible. For instance, the uninsured tend to delay getting healthcare services. As a result, they often get sick over time till it is an emergency case and too late to seek for medical attention (Huber, 1999). In reality, managed care does not cover particular services or pharmaceutical products. Conversely, the health insurers are willing to issue policies covering anything needed by the purchaser.
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