The health care sector is dedicated to ensuring that all persons have access to proper health care. In their quest for the safety of patients, these health institutions have created restrictions not only to govern the medical practitioners but also the types of products that are allowed into health care provision. “Managing care is necessary as it ensures that the costs of providing care are reduced so that the patient in the long run will is able to afford care (McCarthy & Schafermeyer, 2004). ” There are a number of bodies that offer pharmaceutical products and control them for instance health maintenance organizations.
The products distributed sometimes fall under managed care though there are always concerns on the products that need to be managed. The restrictions have in some instances made it difficult for new product introduction as the institutions also manage their utilization. Some of the valuable considerations that are looked into when managing care and have made it difficult for new product entry include: ? Restricted access to hospitals Restricted access to hospitals is ranked medium in its influence on the entry of new products. Under the managed care plan, they are not bound to contract with the type of hospitals patients prefer.
This means that products to certain hospitals will be limited and if this happens to many hospitals in a region, then the suppliers will not benefit much from such regions. ? Restricted of access to specialty care Most of the managed care programs make patients to see only the specialists that they have approved. Tough at first it ma y seem like a minor issues, it is risky when it comes to the introduction of new products. “Patients will feel restricted and the procedures can take long as many people will be attended by few medical practitioners (Frick, 1999).
” Moreover, managed care organizations may restrict the number of specialists and this means that very few products will be required for a certain period and this also means that it will be difficult for new products to be introduced. ? Restricted access to tests and medications The various packages offered by the managed care organizations do not include expensive medications hence patients have to use inexpensive medications that may not necessarily help them much. In addition, they are not made aware of alternative medication.
This therefore means that good expensive medication will not easily penetrate into the health system. “Specialists are chosen on the basis on how they are efficient and effective at conducting laboratory tests this implies that if they are not that skilled, such tests will be limited (Frick, 1999). ” This is made worse by the fact that the programs follow certain clinical protocols that limit the clinicians’ practices. Such restrictions are made so that they can are able to manage pharmaceutical companies. For these reasons, restrictions on tests and medications are risky.