Business health care alliances. Government health care policy regulators. National pharmaceutical and device companies. From the perspective of health care systems, managed care represents all systems attempting to integrate the delivery and financing of health care, and to apply new constraints on encounters between physicians and patients.
Management is based on business principles defined by the marketplace.
Rationing, or constraints on access to health care, is necessary to lower costs. Payment for services must be risk-weighed against rewarding physicians for rendering expensive and unnecessary medical care. The health care budget must be annualized by capitation formula. Risks for services are passed on to the providers of care. Managed care seeks to achieve cost-control objectives by changing the behavior of providers and patients.