But such efforts are limited and short sighted. Really managing care means applying the most efficient blend of provider and patient resources to the care process for optimal outcomes and satisfaction. The care process is the cornerstone, the ultimate engine that drives health care. Despite technological advances, when one looks at a typical episode of care, one sees that much has stayed the same over the last 50 years. The core processes, the roles and relationships that shape them, the sequencing of who does what to whom and when, remains largely unchanged.
Passive patients rely on the information, decision-making, and treatment of their physicians.
Today's managed care is a transition model. As managed care matures, innovative providers will transform the actual process of care, virtually taking it apart and putting it back together again for efficiency and customer value. First, information about a health problem is gathered by the patient and then the provider. Next a decision is made about what to do. Patients and providers view a presenting healthcare need through the lens of their own database.