title: The current healthcare environment: who is the customer?
abstract: The customer of health care is identified in different third-party financial reimbursement periods beginning with the period before Medicare. The author speculates that the customer in a managed care system might be the corporate offices where employee healthcare decisions are made. In a discussion of managed care, nurses are cautioned about the threats to patient welfare when institutional goals become the customer and take precedence over clinical outcomes of patients.
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Heater
mesh_terms: D004993:Ethics, Nursing; D006801:Humans; D007349:Insurance, Health, Reimbursement; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015279:Organizational Culture; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration*