title: Consumer-directed health care: implications for health care organizations and managers.
abstract: This article uses a pyramid model to illustrate the key components of consumer-directed health care. Consumer-directed health care is considered the essential strategy needed to lower health care costs and is valuable for making significant strides in health care reform. Consumer-directed health care presents new challenges and opportunities for all health care stakeholders and their managers. The viability of the health system depends on the success of managers to respond rapidly and with precision to changes in the system; thus, new and modified roles of managers are necessary to successfully sustain consumerism efforts to control costs while maintaining access and quality.
authors.affiliation: Health Care Administration Program, University of Hawaii-West Oahu, 96-129 Ala Ike, Pearl City, HI 96782, USA. kguo@hawaii.edu
authors.forename: Kristina L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D003363:Cost Control; D030881:Disclosure; D015438:Health Behavior; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006270:Health Facility Administrators / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006293:Health Promotion; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000458:organization & administration; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D055048:Integrative Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration; D017146:Models, Organizational; D009042:Motivation; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D010358:Patient Participation; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D024382:Professional Role; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D014481:United States; D019472:Universal Health Insurance