Introduction

Managed care is a health care delivery system that is purposed at managing cost, promoting quality and
influencing utilization. The most common types of healthcare plans offered currently have managed care.
These include provider oversight, provider network and prescription drug tiers. These health plans are
created and designed in the management of costs without necessarily influencing the quality of the care
provided. An example of managed care is Medicaid. Medicaid managed care ensures the delivery of
Medicaid health benefits and other services through the integration of contract arrangement between
managed care organizations and Medicaid agencies. This paper aims at establishing the impacts of
managed care on customers. It will focus on explaining the relationship between the two including all of its
pertinent factors.

Body

According to research, managed care is directly associated with the increase in customer/patient
satisfaction. One important factor to understand is that with managed care, the collaboration and
cooperation of healthcare providers is influenced. For example, physicians can put their conflicts of
interest aside to collaborate in actualizing the patient outcomes and the set goals and objectives. This in
turn, translates to high customer/patient levels as it influences the creation of an environment that is
conducive and comfortable for the recuperation of the patient. For example, when a patient is in an
environment where the healthcare providers communicate or cooperate with each other, he or she will be
able to trust them in the dissemination of care.

Managed care is directly correlated with cheaper prescriptions, consequently affecting the cost of care for
the patient/customer. For example, managed care helps in the management of errors when it comes to
prescriptions. With similar information stemming from each corner of the healthcare institution, the
prescription costs can better be managed. For example, a research conducted by AHIP shows that
managed care organizations can control Medicaid prescription drug spending more efficiently compared to
Medicaid fee for service programs. It has been established that managed care organizations provide lower
costs of prescription drugs resulting in savings of approximately $6.5 billion. Thirdly, managed care
organizations control prescription costs by changing the concept of excessive utilization towards less costly
and effective treatments.

Managed care influences the customers/patients by influencing the integration of in-network providers. As
stated earlier, managed care promotes collaboration and cooperation between physicians and other
healthcare providers. As a result, healthcare institutions integrate a lot of professionals under one
institution to meet the set goals and objectives. For example, when a patient wants to see a dentist, he or
she can easily move from room to room. Additionally, if a case is serious and in dire need of another or
different healthcare professional, he or she can be contacted within the same institution. Managed care
influences the quality of care provided to customers by promoting the integration of extensive in-service
providers.

Conclusion

Managed care is one of the most common forms of healthcare provided in the United States of America. It
is made available to individuals and groups of people in three common formats including point of scale
care, preferred provider organizations and health maintenance organizations. The main advantage with
managed care is that it providers and promotes access to different healthcare providers, ensuring patients
access quality care easily, flexibly and conveniently. It is vital to understand that research has bene
primarily dedicated to understanding how managed care influences physician and patient relationships.
However, more research should be directed at understanding the impacts of managed care on the patient,
individually. How does managed care influence care for the patient or customer across all aspects? These
are some of the questions that need to be evaluated to clearly and comprehensively understand the
impact and influence of managed care on customers/patients.