Ethics of managed care: clinical and administrative implications for medical group practices

This professional paper reviews several current ethical dilemmas: situations that may compromise the patient's dignity; a social thrust towards "universal" care that has left providers in a no-man's land of "to treat or not to treat" decisions; financial models which reduce available services, or that directly incentivize practices to withhold care. Behind each of these issues are values that managers [and physicians] must consider if they are to protect and improve the quality of health care.