Integrated Delivery Systems
An integrated delivery system is a combination of various health networks with a range of health providers that provide health services to patients. Health providers in the delivery systems include merger hospitals, multihospital institutions, long term care facilities, community centers, home-based care institutions, primary care providers, and hospital alliances. The health providers offer health services under the vertical and horizontal organizational structure and aim at providing quality health care services. The health providers offer services to children, senior adults, older adults, the aged population, chronically ill patients, and people living with disabilities in the community set-ups.
ACA and its influence on Managed Care
The Affordable Care Act, also known as the Obama Care, has changed the American health care system by facilitating the expansion of managed care to many American citizens. This has helped in saving many lives. ACA has addressed rising managed care costs by enabling suitable health insurance plans that focus on effective patient treatments and reduced fraud in the provision of managed care. ACA has extended managed care through insurance to the American population greatly.
Forces that have shaped health insurance
Several forces have shaped health insurance in the past, and these forces significantly contributed to the existence of managed care and health insurance. They include; rising medical costs in the health sector, financial risks, lack of medical information, inadequate provision of health care to patients, lack of proper health reforms, and inflation in the health sector. These forces crafted the need to develop managed care organizations that would control medical costs while improving the quality of health.
Health insurer and managed care organization models
The two models under the health insurance and managed care organizations are the open-panel and the closed panel. There are two distinctions under the open panel: the independent practice and the direct contract model while in the closed panel, there are two distinctions; the staff model and the group model. These models facilitate effective healthcare delivery to patients enrolled in the health insurance plans by connecting patients with professional physicians who offer quality services at affordable controlled prices.