Medicine and the Marketplace : The Moral Dimensions of Managed Care

by Wong, Kenman L.

• ISBN13: 9780268014407
• ISBN10: 026801440X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-02-01
• Publisher: Univ of Notre Dame Pr

Summary

Kenman L. Wong's timely book addresses issues raised by the new intersections of business and medicine with an ethical assessment of emerging health care arrangements. By focusing on organizational ethics, he offers an integrative framework that seeks to balance patient, societal, and corporate interests. To avoid overly simplistic solutions, Wong compares managed care, traditional for-service arrangements, and other proposed health care reform options such as rationing programs and medical savings accounts based upon principles of fairness. Though Wong argues that managed care is the best available option, he finds fault with many current practices of managed care organizations. He evaluates the place of the profit motive in the guiding ethos of managed care organizations and addresses the pressing issue of whether or not managed care should remain the exclusive domain of nonprofit organizations. He concludes with an integration of business ethics and medical values that formulates organizational norms and specific practice reforms for managed care organizations.

Author Biography

Kenman L. Wong is Associate Professor of Business Ethics at Seattle Pacific University.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction	p. 1
Business and Medicine at a New Crossroads	p. 11
Reframing the Debate: Perspectives Critical of Managed Care	p. 29
Reframing the Debate: Perspectives in Support of Managed Care	p. 47
Fee-for-Service Medicine	p. 61
Alternative Reform Proposals	p. 81
The Ethical Importance of the Non-Profit Distinction	p. 97
The Moral Viability of For-Profit Organizations	p. 115
Business Ethics for Managed Care Organizations	p. 125
Stakeholder Responsibilities in the New Health Care Environment	p. 143
Notes	p. 157
Selected Bibliography	p. 195
Index	p. 213
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