PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF CAPITATED MENTAL-HEALTH-PROGRAMS IN THE PUBLIC-SECTOR

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the theoretical concepts of capitation in conjunction with practical lessons gleaned from the literature documenting capitation efforts in public mental he alth. It is aimed toward state and county administrators in the proces s of, ol contemplating, a transition to capitated mental health servic es. To achieve this goal, we have developed an analytic framework, dra wn from health care finance and the empirical literature on capitated programs, which identifies five major concerns in the planning and imp lementation of a capitated mental health system. Within this framework , the pros and cons of decisions facing planners are discussed. Drawin g on the experience documented in the literature, the problems encount ered by other programs during implementation are discussed Conclusions and recommendations are made for both program planners and implemento rs. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd