The potential for financial reward is one of the powerful incentives for achieving positive results. Providers also value having control over resources , which increases their ability to garner financial rewards. At least two distinctive types of risks are shared. The risk for cost or price speaks to the uncertainty about what a unit of service will cost. Cost refers to the providers actual expenses.
Price is the amount that provider charges the payer, which includes cost and profit.
Both utilization and cost are subject to variation . Services that are customized for individual users raise the cost of the overall system. Therefore, health care systems strive to provide standardized treatments that have been demonstrated to be effective. However, responding to customer concerns may yield increased loyalty to the provider and better compliance with a treatment plan, possibly decreasing costs. There are many provider reimbursement mechanisms, and managed care does not imply any particular method of reimbursing providers for their services.