The Legal and Ethical Impacts That Managed Care Practices Have on Research Paper - 1

The Legal and Ethical Impacts That Managed Care Practices Have on Quality and Access to Patient Care in USA - Research Paper Example This paper illustrates that managed care practices have caused legal and ethical effects that have made the quality of care and access to patient care a problem. Managed care institutions have to work within the limits of the available resources. Because the cost of healthcare is high, healthcare practitioners give limited health care to patients. Only the very sick and those who have a great need for care are given priority. Physicians are trapped by monetary incentives that make them compromise decision making between patients’ needs and their own remuneration. There are poor guidelines that make needy patients lack access to procedures or appropriate medication for their specific medical needs. The cost of healthcare has become the motivation of the managed care practices as Kongtvedt points out. The problem with the managed care practices is the cost consciousness that is emphasized. The high cost of healthcare has led managed care practices to reduce the number of referra ls to a specialist. Less costly medication is prescribed to cut on cost. The physicians are restricted on the number of tests and procedures they can request. Cost consciousness could lead to misdiagnosis for lack of tests or inappropriate medication because of giving available less costly treatment. Cost consciousness causes the quality and access to quality care to be reduced. The growth of managed care in the United States has caused various ethical concerns. The concerns emerge from the practices and policies that cause certain deficiencies. Many people lack insurance, others are partly insured while a small fraction of citizens has comprehensive insurance cover. The cost of health is constantly increasing and very few can be able to purchase a comprehensive insurance cover.