Managed care is often viewed primarily as a cost-cutting initiative that addresses cost and cost management only in the healthcare field. For this and other reasons, managed care organizations face harsh judgments about the quality of care they provide. When analyzed correctly, the trends demonstrate that managed care has indeed been very significant in determining and improving the quality of care. In this paper, we will use elements such as state and federal oversight of MCOs, voluntary accreditations, standardized performance indicators, and examples of successful quality programs developed by MCOs to demonstrate this claim. Although managed care and quality do not go hand in hand in the eyes of many, the research information provided in this paper will show that MCOs are placing greater emphasis on measuring and improving the quality of healthcare and therefore should be considered as a major force in this regard. Most of the managed care industry is governed and operated by for-profit organizations, leading many to believe that it focuses more on managing costs and making a profit than on the quality of care provided to individuals . In addition to this, the legal policies of MCOs place them in the difficult situation of having to put shareholders before consumers and/or payers. Furthermore, recent studies suggest that since financial risk has been transferred to providers through the capitation process, they have become even more financially free to not provide all needed care. However, the managed care industry has countered these claims by demonstrating in recent years that in reality it is not just about managing costs, but also about managing quality and even improving it. As time has passed it has been noticed that MCOs… half of the paper… the current state of the healthcare system indicates that managed care organizations actually play a very important role in the healthcare system and the healthcare it provides . provides to beneficiaries and patients. Improvements in the quality of care continue to increase across the spectrum but, while there is much to celebrate, there is also much to work on and improve. Partnerships and compromises between MCOs, hospitals, insurance companies, health plans, professionals, consumers and buyers need to be forced to fill the gaps and fill the areas that are still far from being perfected. It goes without saying that the healthcare system will never reach complete perfection because it is an ever-evolving sector that adapts and transforms over time, but if all the components come together and work together, then the mission of providing each patient with the best care possible will be satisfied.