- Table View
- List View
The Healthcare Efficiency Revolution: A Mid-Level Managers’ Manual for Professional Development
by Ziv GilIn recent years, improving efficiency in healthcare facilities in general, and in hospitals specifically, has become increasingly important. This book provides essential information on the powerful performance results that can be achieved when patient-centered efficiency reforms are implemented within health management systems. Created for departmental and institutional healthcare professionals, this book offers intuitive guidelines, technical tools, and work procedures to comprehensively analyze all aspects of current operations and reconfigure assets in pursuit of serving more patients, reducing costs, and generating revenues. This work is particularly valuable as its focuses on the most basic service unit in any given hospital (department/unit) and on methodologies for enhancing management practice and creating internal cultures of continual change and ongoing development. The book provides effective and lasting solutions that reduce E.R. and physician consultation wait times, complications and hospital readmissions, and laboratory tests performed, as well as increase O.R. productivity, annual numbers of patients served, and overall rates of staff and patient satisfaction. Also addressed are how best to handle moments of crisis (such as COVID-19); ethical and legal concerns; and the hiring, development, promotion, and empowerment of staff. Dedicated sections analyze ways to minimize disruptive behavior among physicians, nurses, and other personnel, and present strategies for improving department meetings, particularly in an era of social distancing. The book also describes how to maximize outcomes through multi-disciplinary approaches, the use of core performance metrics, ongoing data collection and analysis, simple reporting protocols, transparency, and the adoption of technological aids, including dedicated apps. Everything presented in this work has been put into practice. They achieved substantial and sustainable improvements in service delivery – all with little or no change in staff, budgets, and other resources already at hand. This book will help specialists and medical managers in the healthcare market to more effectively use their own resources to achieve levels of performance and success objectives they might otherwise have thought were unattainable.
Healthcare Entrepreneurship and Management: A Comprehensive Guide for Biomedical Engineers and Entrepreneurs
by Arnab Chanda Shubham GuptaPost pandemic, the world is not the same place. There has been an increasing focus on healthcare and well-being, which has created a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for healthcare innovations and startups. From adoption of a range of medical apps and telemedicine technologies to heightened public interest in smart wearables and medical devices, the demand for efficient healthcare delivery has been skyrocketing. This book aims to serve as a first-of-its-kind guide for skill development in conception to commercialisation of healthcare products and services. It covers the gamut from the study of healthcare challenges, such as understanding customer requirements, market needs, and competition, to the various steps of the healthcare product development process, such as defining value propositions and specifications, the creation of minimum viable product (MVP) to prototyping, and manufacturing. The authors also discuss key commercialisation and management strategies, including the development of a robust business plan, fund raising, intellectual property, creating barriers to entry, and launching healthcare startups. Medical product pricing, positioning, sales and distribution, and customer acquisition are also presented with real-life examples. This book serves as a key reference not only for biomedical engineers who are looking to launch their products or services in the market but also for budding entrepreneurs willing to explore opportunities in the healthcare domain. For example, engineers and managers working on the development of medical devices require knowledge of ethical guidelines, regulations, and approvals to effectively launch their products in the medtech industry. On the other hand, entrepreneurs looking to benefit from the booming healthcare industry will find this book helpful in understanding the fundamentals of medical product development and commercialisation to launch their ideas successfully.
Healthcare Finance: An Introduction to Accounting and Financial Management (Fourth Edition)
by Louis C. GapenskiLike its predecessors, this textbook teaches the reader the fundamental concepts of healthcare finance, including both financial management and accounting. The fourth edition features: New or expanded coverage of: Municipal bond pools, Cost of capital for not-for-profit and small businesses, Modified internal rate of return, Supply chain management , Health savings accounts, Current information on reimbursement, along with updated real-world examples, Easy-to-grasp spreadsheet illustrations of the calculations throughout the book Learning aids, including a glossary; self-test questions; and end-of-chapter key concepts, questions, and problems
The Healthcare Fix: Universal Insurance for All Americans
by Laurence J. KotlikoffKotlikoff proposes a simple, straightforward approach to the problem that would create one system that works for everyone and secure America's fiscal and economic future. His proposed Medical Security System is not the socialized medicine so feared by Republicans and libertarians.
The Healthcare Fix: Universal Insurance for All Americans (The\mit Press Ser.)
by Laurence J. KotlikoffA simple, straightforward, and foolproof proposal for universal health insurance from a noted economist.The shocking statistic is that forty-seven million Americans have no health insurance. When uninsured Americans go to the emergency room for treatment, however, they do receive care, and a bill. Many hospitals now require uninsured patients to put their treatment on a credit card which can saddle a low-income household with unpayably high balances that can lead to personal bankruptcy. Why don't these people just buy health insurance? Because the cost of coverage that doesn't come through an employer is more than many low- and middle-income households make in a year. Meanwhile, rising healthcare costs for employees are driving many businesses under. As for government-supplied health care, ever higher costs and added benefits (for example, Part D, Medicare's new prescription drug coverage) make both Medicare and Medicaid impossible to sustain fiscally; benefits grow faster than the national per-capita income. It's obvious the system is broken. What can we do?In The Healthcare Fix, economist Laurence Kotlikoff proposes a simple, straightforward approach to the problem that would create one system that works for everyone and secure America's fiscal and economic future. Kotlikoff's proposed Medical Security System is not the "socialized medicine" so feared by Republicans and libertarians; it's a plan for universal health insurance. Because everyone would be insured, it's also a plan for universal healthcare. Participants—including all who are currently uninsured, all Medicaid and Medicare recipients, and all with private or employer-supplied insurance—would receive annual vouchers for health insurance, the amount of which would be based on their current medical condition. Insurance companies would willingly accept people with health problems because their vouchers would be higher. And the government could control costs by establishing the values of the vouchers so that benefit growth no longer outstrips growth of the nation's per capita income. It's a "single-payer" plan, but a single payer for insurance. The American healthcare industry would remain competitive, innovative, strong, and private.Kotlikoff's plan is strong medicine for America's healthcare crisis, but brilliant in its simplicity. Its provisions can fit on a postcard and Kotlikoff provides one, ready to be copied and mailed to your representative in Congress.
Healthcare Fraud
by Rebecca S. BuschAn invaluable tool equipping healthcare professionals, auditors, and investigators to detect every kind of healthcare fraudAccording to private and public estimates, billions of dollars are lost per hour to healthcare waste, fraud, and abuse. A must-have reference for auditors, fraud investigators, and healthcare managers, Healthcare Fraud, Second Edition provides tips and techniques to help you spot--and prevent--the "red flags" of fraudulent activity within your organization. Eminently readable, it is your "go-to" resource, equipping you with the necessary skills to look for and deal with potential fraudulent situations.Includes new chapters on primary healthcare, secondary healthcare, information/data management and privacy, damages/risk management, and transparencyOffers comprehensive guidance on auditing and fraud detection for healthcare providers and company healthcare plansExamines the necessary background that internal auditors should have when auditing healthcare activitiesManaging the risks in healthcare fraud requires an understanding of how the healthcare system works and where the key risk areas are. With health records now all being converted to electronic form, the key risk areas and audit process are changing. Read Healthcare Fraud, Second Edition and get the valuable guidance you need to help combat this critical problem.
HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (A)
by Leonard A. Schlesinger Paras D. BhayaniA review of the process utilized by the Obama administration to create the Health Care.gov exchange and the problems that resulted from the implementation effort. There is a B case that provides the follow on strategy and processes utilized to get the site up and running after the initial failures of implementation.
HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (B)
by Leonard A. Schlesinger Paras D. BhayaniA review of the process utilized by the Obama administration to create the Health Care.gov exchange and the problems that resulted from the implementation effort. This case provides the follow on strategy and processes utilized to get the site up and running after the initial failures of implementation.
Healthcare, Guaranteed: A Simple, Secure Solution For America
by Ezekiel EmmanuelAmerica spends more than any other developed nation on healthcare-$2. 1 trillion in 2007 alone. But 47 million Americans remain uninsured, and of those Americans who are insured, many suffer from poor health. In his ground-breaking proposal, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel offers up a plan to comprehensively restructure the delivery and quality of our healthcare. By eliminating employer-healthcare and establishing an independent program to evaluate healthcare plans and insurance companies, he offers a no-nonsense guide to how government can institute private insurance options that will allow each of us a choice of doctor and plan. With the rate of healthcare costs rapidly outpacing our gross domestic product, we can no longer afford to maintain our fragmented delivery of care, or entertain reforms that seek to patch, rather than cure, a fractured system. Accessible, straightforward, and revolutionary in its approach, Healthcare, Guaranteed is an inarguable guide to lasting healthcare reform.
Healthcare Hazard Control and Safety Management
by James T. TweedyComprehensive in scope, this totally revamped edition of a bestseller is the ideal desk reference for anyone tasked with hazard control and safety management in the healthcare industry. Presented in an easy-to-read format, Healthcare Hazard Control and Safety Management, Third Edition examines hazard control and safety management as proactive funct
Healthcare in the United States: Clinical, Financial, and Operational Dimensions
by Kenneth L. Johnson Stephen L. WalstonHealthcare in the United States: Clinical, Financial, and Operational Dimensions offers an introductory overview of the American healthcare system by exploring its many organizations, populations, professions, structures, financing, and delivery models, as well as their impact. Authors Stephen L. Walston and Kenneth L. Johnson delve into the many conflicting issues related to cost, access, and quality. The book's 14 chapters cover the following and more: a comprehensive review of the health professions and types of healthcare organizations; an exploration of how medical providers are paid; major challenges currently facing physicians, hospitals, and the pharmaceutical industry; an examination of the long-term and mental healthcare sectors and the increasing demands for their services; the significant role of the government in healthcare, including the influence of politics; the basics of population health, including an in-depth look at how changing social, demographic, and economic conditions in the United States affect healthcare; the connections between health behaviors, health insurance, and health outcomes; information technology's role in healthcare; a comparison of US healthcare to that in other countries, with a focus on the four basic models on which most healthcare systems are created. To enhance and assess students' learning, each of the book's chapters features case studies, thought-provoking questions and assignments, sidebars, and key terms accompanied by definitions. As they read, future healthcare administrators and clinicians will obtain a grounding in the multifaceted US healthcare system, thus enabling them to better address its multiple priorities, controversies, and opportunities.
Healthcare Informatics: Improving Efficiency through Technology, Analytics, and Management (2nd Edition)
by Stephan P. KudybaHealthcare Informatics: Improving Efficiency through Technology, Analytics, and Management supplies an understanding of the different types of healthcare service providers, corresponding information technologies, analytic methods, and data issues that play a vital role in transforming the healthcare industry. All of these elements are reshaping the various activities such as workflow and processes of hospitals, healthcare systems, ACOs, and patient analytics, including hot spotting, risk stratification, and treatment effectiveness.
Healthcare Informatics: Improving Efficiency and Productivity
by Stephan P. KudybaHealthcare Informatics: Improving Efficiency and Productivity examines the complexities involved in managing resources in our healthcare system and explains how management theory and informatics applications can increase efficiencies in various functional areas of healthcare services. Delving into data and project management and advanced analytics,
Healthcare Informatics: Improving Efficiency through Technology, Analytics, and Management
by Stephan P. KudybaHealthcare Informatics: Improving Efficiency through Technology, Analytics, and Management supplies an understanding of the different types of healthcare service providers, corresponding information technologies, analytic methods, and data issues that play a vital role in transforming the healthcare industry. All of these elements are reshaping the various activities such as workflow and processes of hospitals, healthcare systems, ACOs, and patient analytics, including hot spotting, risk stratification, and treatment effectiveness.A follow-up to Healthcare Informatics: Improving Efficiency and Productivity, this latest book includes new content that examines the evolution of Big Data and how it is revolutionizing the healthcare industry. It presents strategies for achieving national goals for the meaningful use of health information technology and includes sound project management principles and case illustrations for technology roll-out, such as Computer Physician Order Entry (CPOE) for optimal utilization.The book describes how to enhance process efficiency by linking technologies, data, and analytics with strategic initiatives to achieve success. It explains how to leverage data resources with analytics to enhance decision support for care providers through in-depth descriptions of the array of analytic methods that are used to create actionable information, including Business Intelligence, Six Sigma, Data, and Text Mining.
Healthcare Informatics: Strategies for the Digital Era
by Stephan P. Kudyba"This book addresses how health apps, in-home measurement devices, telemedicine, data mining, and artificial intelligence and smart medical algorithms are all enabled by the transition to a digital health infrastructure…..it provides a comprehensive background with which to understand what is happening in healthcare informatics and why."—C. William Hanson, III, MD, Chief Medical Information Officer and Vice President, University of Pennsylvania Health System. "This book is dedicated to the frontline healthcare workers, who through their courage and honor to their profession, helped maintain a reliable service to the population at large, during a chaotic time. These individuals withstood fear and engaged massive uncertainty and risk to perform their duties of providing care to those in need at a time of crisis. May the world never forget the COVID-19 pandemic and the courage of our healthcare workers".—Stephan P. Kudyba, Author Healthcare Informatics: Evolving Strategies in the Digital Era focuses on the services, technologies, and processes that are evolving in the healthcare industry. It begins with an introduction to the factors that are driving the digital age as it relates to the healthcare sector and then covers strategic topics such as risk management, project management, and knowledge management that are essential for successful digital initiatives. It delves into facets of the digital economy and how healthcare is adapting to the geographic, demographic, and physical needs of the population and highlights the emergence and importance of apps and telehealth. It also provides a high-level approach to managing pandemics by applying the various elements of the digital ecosystem. The book covers such technologies as: Computerized physician order entry (CPOE) Clinical Information Systems Alerting systems and medical sensors Electronic healthcare records (EHRs) Mobile healthcare and telehealth. Apps Business Intelligence and Decision Support Analytics Digital outreach to the population Artificial Intelligence The book then closes the loop on the efficiency enhancing process with a focus on utilizing analytics for problem solving for a variety of healthcare processes including the pharmaceutical sector. Finally, the book ends with current and futuristic views on evolving applications of AI throughout the industry.
Healthcare Infrastructure, Resilience and Climate Change: Preparing for Extreme Weather Events
by Virendra Kumar Paul Abhijit Rastogi Sumedha Dua Chaitali BasuThis book highlights the vulnerability of healthcare buildings in the context of climate change-triggered extreme weather events (EWEs) and the case for mitigation. With a concise discussion on climate change and its consequences in the form of such events, a cost model and equations that register losses and help quantify them are then presented. The model can be used to estimate the significant potential loss that might occur during an EWE and help healthcare facilities prepare for them. The book analyses cases of major EWEs in India over the last two decades and collates the data available into various categories. Through this research the authors have developed a framework which assists healthcare facilities with a detailed calculation of value losses, both tangible and intangible. The framework can be used to assess the impacts on healthcare buildings in terms of disruption of services so that appropriate decisions related to the resilience in healthcare planning can be taken into consideration. Thus, the book is useful for directing planning and design processes aimed at continuity of service and building resilience to perform in the face of natural disaster and extreme weather. The purpose of this book is to prompt facilities planners and healthcare facilities to prepare to respond to EWEs through the planning and design process in a rational manner. Built infrastructure professionals such as architects and engineers, policy makers, and academics with an interest in disasters, risk and climate change will all find this book to be key reading.
Healthcare Innovation Success: Learning from Organisational Experience
by Penny KechagioglouThe role of leadership in driving innovation through its different stages is fully explored in this book to enable clinical leaders and managers to design innovation frameworks. The book highlights how to maximize the benefits of innovation for organizations and integrated care systems while acknowledging that the process of innovation within healthcare organizations can be complex and needs to be well orchestrated to enable innovation to spread and sustain. The book examines the leadership enablers in healthcare innovation highlighting a new and refreshing strategic model of innovation. The model is used as the foundation to support the process of innovation, from ideation to implementation, within contemporary and ambitious healthcare organizations.
The Healthcare Innovator's Workbook: Making Lean Design in Healthcare Happen
by Adam WardThis book gives the reader an inside look at creating a new healthcare service using practical examples and scenarios one would face if doing it themselves. This workbook is a follow-up to the recently published, Lean Design in Healthcare and offers a tactical version of the principles provided in the book. It parses the dialogue out into detailed reasons for the Lean Design in Healthcare’s position and principles. This workbook contains examples and many exercises for the reader to complete to begin their own innovation journey. Lean Design in Healthcare chronicles the journey of a fictitious healthcare delivery organization using the Simpler Design System principles based on Lean methodologies. While the characters and actual story is fictitious, it is based on the journey many healthcare systems and clients have taken, the issues they have faced, and the successes and failures they’ve had. This workbook takes the initial story further and includes leadership quotes and best practices to support the dialogue introduced in the first book. Exercises will be custom designed to match the story flow and provides practical information that readers can immediately apply in their work. Each chapter will start with an introduction and contain 10 exercises per chapter. Tools include those gleaned from actual application of Lean Product Development, Agile, Design for Six Sigma, and Design Thinking Principles.
Healthcare, Insurance, and You
by Lisa ZamoskyHealthcare is changing and you need to know how--and what to do about it. Getting good medical care shouldn't be so confusing--or so costly. Healthcare, Insurance, and You simplifies the many confusing details about our healthcare system so you can make informed decisions. Result? Better health at lower cost. With the advent of healthcare reform, things are changing--especially when it comes to insurance. Most people will now have to buy insurance. Do you know where to get a policy or what to look for in one? Did you know more people will now qualify for free or subsidized healthcare? Even if you get insurance through work, you'll face new choices that you'd better understand to maintain your peace of mind. As this book shows, the failure to understand how insurance and the healthcare system work can have a major impact on your physical and financial health. Healthcare, Insurance, and You is an easy-to-use guide that explains the main challenges you face when trying to get excellent healthcare: choosing the best insurance policy for your situation, finding the right doctor or hospital, buying prescription drugs the least expensive way, picking out the right Medicare plan, or fighting for your rights when dealing with insurers or medical providers. Healthcare, Insurance, and You includes tips, resources, and strategies for navigating the healthcare system and avoiding common mistakes so you can get the best healthcare for you, your family, or your organization without breaking the bank. This book shows you: How to choose a health plan that best meets your medical and financial needs, including new options under the Affordable Care Act Ways to cut through red tape and fight billing errors and claim denials What businesses need to know about offering--or not offering--insurance to employees How to plan ahead for a disability or for end-of-life care Healthcare costs rank high on the list of money concerns Americans have. And when it comes to getting great healthcare for you and your family and avoiding crippling medical bills, knowledge is power. Healthcare, Insurance, and You is a practical guide that explains the complicated healthcare system in plain language--and puts the power of good health back in your hands. What you'll learn The impact of the Affordable Care Act on your healthcare and your finances How to take advantage of new health insurance exchanges and tax credits How to choose a health plan that best meets your medical and financial needs How to advocate for yourself, fight billing errors and denied claims, and know where to turn for help How to choose a doctor and hospital based on quality, not hype How to avoid common mistakes that can cost you big--or even put you into bankruptcy How health reform affects businesses and how they can reduce healthcare expenditures Who this book is for Consumers of healthcare in the United States, including both individuals and small businesses buying coverage for employees. Table of Contents A New Healthcare System Buying Health Insurance on your own Paying for Health Insurance Health Insurance at Work Cutting Medical Costs Buying Prescription Drugs You Against the Healthcare System Medicare Taking Charge of Your Healthcare Future Consumer Assistance Programs and State Departments of Insurance
Healthcare IT Transformation: Bridging Innovation, Integration, Interoperability, and Analytics
by John C. DoddThis book gives examples from healthcare institutions that are using IT automation and innovation to drive change and provides guidance on the strategic direction of HIT over the next five years. Improving the delivery of healthcare through HIT is vital for both the economic success of healthcare organizations and the care of the patient, but most EMR systems do not have an integrated and architected approach. This book provides a detailed approach on how to leverage IT for transformation. It also shows how to build upon the experiences of other industries and helps foster innovation by providing a vision of where technology can be an enabler.
Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Continuous Improvements
by Mark Graban Joseph E. SwartzHealthcare Kaizen focuses on the principles and methods of daily continuous improvement, or Kaizen, for healthcare professionals and organizations. Kaizen is a Japanese word that means "change for the better," as popularized by Masaaki Imai in his 1986 book Kaizen: The Key to Japan‘s Competitive Success and through the books of Norman Bodek, both of whom contributed introductory material for this book.Winner of a 2013 Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award!In 1989, Dr. Donald M. Berwick, founder of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and former administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, endorsed the principles of Kaizen in the New England Journal of Medicine, describing it as "the continuous search for opportunities for all processes to get better." This book shows how to make this goal a reality.Healthcare Kaizen shares some of the methods used by numerous hospitals around the world, including Franciscan St. Francis Health, where co-author Joe Swartz has led these efforts. Most importantly, the book covers the management mindsets and philosophies required to make Kaizen work effectively in a hospital department or as an organization-wide program.All of the examples in the book were shared by leading healthcare organizations, with over 200 full-color pictures and visual illustrations of Kaizen-based improvements that were initiated by nurses, physicians, housekeepers, senior executives and other staff members at all levels.Healthcare Kaizen will be helpful for organizations that have embraced weeklong improvement events, but now want to follow the lead of ThedaCare, Virginia Mason Medical Center, and others who have moved beyond just doing events into a more complete management system based on Lean or the Toyota Production System.
Healthcare Knowledge Management Primer (Routledge Series in Information Systems)
by Nilmini Wickramasinghe Rajeev K. Bali Brian Lehaney Jonathan Schaffer M. Chris GibbonsQuality care of patients requires evaluating large amounts of data at the right time and place and in the correct context. With the advent of electronic health records, data warehouses now provide information at the point of care and facilitate a continuous learning environment in which lessons learned can provide updates to clinical, administrative, and financial processes. Given the advancement of the information tools and techniques of today’s knowledge economy, utilizing these resources are imperative for effective healthcare. Thus, the principles of Knowledge Management (KM) are now essential for quality healthcare management. The Healthcare Knowledge Management Primer explores and explains essential KM principles in healthcare settings in an introductory and easy to understand fashion. This concise book is ideal for both students and professionals who need to learn more about key aspects of the KM field as it pertains to effecting superior healthcare delivery. It provides readers with an understanding of approaches to KM by examining the purpose and nature of its key components and demystifies the KM field by explaining in an accessible manner the key concepts of KM tools, strategies and techniques, and their benefits to contemporary healthcare organizations.
Healthcare Leadership in Times of Crisis: A Model for Managing Threats to Organizations
by Dennis W. Tafoya Lindsey PoethThis book addresses the challenges that healthcare organizations experience when attempting to manage the emergence of troublesome events or crises. It illustrates how experiences gained from event and crisis containment efforts can better prepare these organizations to prevent and/or manage other crises they may experience. Using a model outlining the relationship between a mismanaged event and the triggering of a crisis, the author defines the role of the leadership in healthcare organizations when developing, launching, and managing plans and programs to deal with these dangerous challenges brought on by crises, catastrophes, and disasters to their stakeholder networks. Readers with expertise in leadership and crisis management in general and healthcare management specifically will find this text useful in linking leadership expectations and competencies to event and crisis containment efforts.
Healthcare Made Easy: Answers to All of Your Healthcare Questions under the Affordable Care Act
by Michelle KatzAn easy-to-understand guide to the Affordable Care Act!Written by ABC World News' Real Money expert and healthcare advocate Michelle Katz, Healthcare Made Easy is the ultimate resource for understanding and navigating the Affordable Care Act. Using simple and easy-to-follow language, she answers important questions about the ACA, such as:Are there any exemptions to buying insurance under the Affordable Care Act?What is the new "80/20 Rule"? And what exactly is the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program?What does the ACA mean for small businesses? What benefits must you offer and what are the tax breaks?What is covered for your children under the new CHIP laws?How can you get pharmaceutical companies to lower your prescription costs? With the expert advice in Healthcare Made Easy, you will learn how to get the most out of your healthcare plan without having to sacrifice your needs or empty your pockets."Here is a guide, a map through the maze of healthcare decisions facing us all. Michelle has helped a lot of families. She is a champion of the consumer. A truly informed advocate." --Diane Sawyer"Michelle breaks down complicated laws and insurance regulations to make them understandable to everyone. She provides you with a road map to getting the best healthcare at the most affordable prices." --Tavis Smiley, Author, Television and Radio Host
Healthcare Management: Managed Care Organisations and Instruments (Springer Texts in Business and Economics)
by Volker Eric AmelungThis textbook on Healthcare Management provides a systematic and comprehensive overview of the organisational forms and management instruments implemented in managed care.Within the international discussion on the structure of healthcare systems, managed care is an increasingly important topic. Over more than twenty years managed care approaches have fundamentally influenced healthcare systems in terms of patient orientation, efficiency, and quality. Experts assume that up to 20% of healthcare expenses can be saved by applying high-quality managed care approaches. By using suitable organisational forms and management principles, not only can costs be reduced, but the quality of medical service provision can be augmented. Managed care is therefore much more than a cost-cutting strategy. Advocates consider managed care to be a logical and necessary developmental step in modern healthcare systems. An increase in quality and at the same time a reduction of costs is not seen as contradictory but rather as consistent. Therefore, managed care is a response to changed challenges in the provision of healthcare.