Managed care and the goals of medicine

Abstract

The goals of medicine encompass the relief of pain and suffering, the promotion of health and the prevention of disease, the forestalling of death and the promoting of a peaceful death, and the cure of disease when possible and the care of those who can not be cured. Managed care, as a system of integrated healthcare delivery designed to control costs, is not, in principle, incompatible with the goals of medicine, but in practice it may well be, depending on whether profit is sought, whether the integrity of physicians' medical judgment is protected, and whether government regulations control managed care practices to prevent abuse and to enhance the quality of care.