Medical Care Essay -- Medicine Health Research Papers

Medical Care The United States has moved from an agricultural country, to an industrialized country and from predominately an industrialized country to more of an information and services country. Health care has changed in the way it has operated just as the country has changed. When the United States was an agricultural country, health care was operated by doctors that worked independently providing health care to patients within a set communities or counties. This health care was a fee for service system. However, that fee could often be made on a barter type system. In that system patients would trade goods for services. As the country transitioned to an industrial society, health care had transitioned as well. Health care providers set up group offices that allowed the health care providers to support each other, when necessary, in providing care to their clients. Health care has primarily focused on providing health care for the patients on a "Fee-for-Service" type payment system. Now that the country has entered in the information and services markets, health care has developed a method to transitions into the information and services markets as well. Today, health care providers have added an additional option to their clients. This option is known as Managed Care. Both of these health care payment types are available today, but managed care is starting to lead the way in the health care industry. Fee for service is defined as a patient sees a medical provider for medical service and the medical provider will bill the health plan of the patient or the patient will pay the medical provider for services and has an option to be reimbursed by the health plan, if applicable. (Arnett & Trapneil, 1984) This was the do... ... Freeland, Michael S. and Schendler, Charles E., "National Health Expenditure Growth in the 1980's: An Aging Population, New Technologies, and Increasing competition," Health care Financing Review, 1983. Kongstvedt, Peter R., M.D. and Young, Ernst LLP, "The Managed Health Care Handbook," Third Edition, Aspen Publication Gaithersburg, Maryland, 1996. Rober, William L., M.D., "Does Managed Care Provide Higher Quality Care Than Fee-For-Service Medicine?" http://www.wnet,org/archive/mch/Viewpoints/procon3.html. The Commonwealth Fund, "A Survey of Patients in managed Care and Fee-for-Service Settings - Three-City Survey Finds Working Americans Dissatisfied." http://www.cmwf.org/health_care/mgdcrhtl.html. United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), "Medicare Care Contract Report," Rockville, Maryland, DHHS, 1995.