Managed Care Payment Research Paper

The types of managed care are differentiated by definition, operation, structure, and information needs. `HMOs were the most common type of MCO until commercial insurance companies developed PPOs to compete with HMOs' (Douglas, 2003, p.331). `HMOs are business entities that either arrange for or provide health services to an enrolled population after prepayment of a fixed sum of money, called a premium' (Peden, 1998, p.78). There are three characteristics that an HMO must have. The first is a health care financing and delivery system that provides services for members in a particular geographic area. Second, is ensured access to a complete range of health care services, health maintenance, treatment, and routine checkups. Last, health care must be obtained from voluntary personnel that participate in the HMO. The five HMO models related to the participating physicians are the Staff

The Iron triangle for healthcare consists of cost, quality, and access; these three characteristics when balanced create great healthcare. Managed Care Organizations combine the three to offer consumers with care that is appropriate for their individual needs. Our book describes managed care organizations as “the cost management of healthcare services by controlling who the consumer sees and how much the service cost” (Basics of the U.S Healthcare System, Niles). Taking a look at the history prior to the Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973 (HMO ACT of 1973) the implementation has been significant in balancing cost, and quality control. Before this Act was signed in to law by President Nixon healthcare costs were determined by fee for service. A fee for service or indemnity plan is a plan that allows the provider to determine the cost of service, this fee for service plan caused for healthcare costs to increase rapidly. An example of this would be going to the doctor with neck pain, being told to stretch then receiving a bill for 25,000 dollars. As could be understood the cost of healthcare had became a problem.

Over the course of our countries history, the delivery of our health care system has tried to meet the needs of our growing and changing population. However, we somehow seem to fall short in delivering our goals of providing quality, affordable and accessible healthcare to our citizens. The history of our delivery system will show we continuously changed the delivery of our system however never mange to control cost. If we can come up with efficient ways to cut cost, the delivery of quality care will follow.

Cleverley, W.O., Cleverley, J.O., & Song, P.H. (2012). Essentials of health care finance (7th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Austin, A., & Wetle, V. (2012). The United States health care system, combining business, health, and delivery. (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

In this country there are numerous concerns about health care economics. Several factors contribute to the increase of health care costs. One area of concern is the impact of managed care on health care finances. Managed care has been around since the early 1970s. The definition of managed care is a set of contractual and management methods implemented to manage the financing and delivery of health care services. Initial implementation of managed care was for health care cost saving (Getzen & Moore, 2007, p. 203, para. 1). Though Managed care initially addressed several health care finance issues, there are still problems with the current

Managed care organizations should have arrangement with both the medical insurers and providers to provide treatment for a contracted rate. Hospital should advertise the services they offer to members of healthcare plans through their healthcare provider by emphasizing on the technology, staff, and other quality of care they provide. Worker compensation plans are similar to commercial plans but treats injured employees. Hospital must contract with all workers compensation plans and must also negotiate coordination of benefits with other insurance carriers of the injured person to full compensate services. For Self pay patients hospital can reach out to them by having pre negotiate rates for treatment when payments are made in advance for certain procedures. Hospital should have system to accept payments when made in any

Since 1984, Medicare patients have been serviced under the prospective payment system of the Medicare program. Under this system, primary care providers are reimbursed for their services using a fixed payment for each patient that is determined by the patient’s diagnosis-related group at the time of the admission. Therefore, under the prospective payment system a hospital’s reimbursement is unaffected by the actual expenditures that are required to care for a patient.

In a health maintenance organization, a contract is made between enrollees and a panel of providers. The enrollees use the method of capitation for payment, meaning they pay a predetermined fixed fee monthly for a period of one to three years regardless of how many times they use their medical service or of how much it costs each time (Chitty & Black, 2007). In a preferred provider organization the a contract is made between the client and a group of independent doctors that team with hospitals to provide cheaper health services for their patients (Chitty & Black, 2007). They are able to provide some of the lowest fees because they have such high volumes of patients to make up for the discounted price (Huntington, Glossary For Managed Care, 1997).

Barton, Phoebe Lindsey. Understanding the U.S. Health Services System, Fourth Edition. Foundation of the American College of Healthcare Executives, 2010.

The United States has a unique system of healthcare delivery, it is complex and massive. Twenty-five years ago; American citizens had guaranteed insurance, meaning the patient could see any physician and the insurance companies and patients would share the cost. But today, 187.4 million Americans have private health insurance coverage (Medicaid, 2014). The subsystems of American health care delivery are Managed care, military, vulnerable populations and integrated delivery

There have been overwhelming efforts to better and extend lives in the US. However, evidence indicates that the outcomes can be improved at lower cost. Many models aimed at achieving this are being piloted throughout the country. In addition to testing, some pockets of adoption exist. The dominant payment system for healthcare providers remains and is based on the fee for service which provides little or no support for numerous innovative and personalized services implemented by healthcare providers. Several potential valuable approaches are poorly reimbursed or are not reimbursed at all. Traditional fee for service payments promotes higher volume and the intensity of duty. To support innovative and cheaper care, providers and health plans have started to develop, implement and evaluate different financial reforms that utilize reimbursement. They award value instead of volume to offer providers more support for providing care which enhances higher quality at reduced cost. Parties to the payment agreement set the value based on the assessment of quality, efficiency, and safety. Penalties and rewards are stated, and the client is paid upon reaching or surpassing set targets. This paper looks into value-based reimbursement, based on patients ' surveys and quality scores by maximizing the value for patients (Mcclellan, 2015).

Managed care was established in order to manage health care cost, utilization, and quality (Kongstvedt, 2015). In managed care, health insurance is provided through HMO, PPO, and other types of managed care. It has the potential to reduced health care spending and improved the quality of care. However, despite of its success in improving the quality of care through preventive health care services, chronic disease management program, and so forth, many physicians are reluctant to be part of the managed care environment. Some of the reasons are the impact of managed care to physician’s income and autonomy. Under managed care, insurers have decreased the fees paid to physicians. There are different ways how managed care organizations control costs. One of this is through selective contracting with health care providers and hospitals to lower costs. In selective contracting, health care providers agreed to accept lower prices in exchanged for guaranteed volume of patients under managed care plan (Culyer, 2014). This paper will discuss more issues and trends in Managed Care Organizations such as the rise of Medicaid Managed Care spending, the new Medicaid Managed care Rule, and the collaboration of Managed Care Organizations and Accountable Care Organizations to reduce health care spending and improve efficiency of care.

Why or why not capitation can create the greatest incentive for providers to control the cost of delivering health services?

Under capitation, physicians are given incentive to consider the cost of treatment. Pure capitation pays a set fee per patient, regardless of their degree of infirmity, and gives physicians an incentive to avoid the most costly patients (Miller, 2009). Providers who work under such plans focus on preventive health care, as there is greater financial reward in prevention of illness than in treatment of the ill. Such plans avert providers from the use of expensive treatment options. The proponents of this method of payment especially insurance companies argue that when health care providers are not paid extra for additional office visits any associated medical expenses, they are likely to be more conservative with their treatment assessments