RESIDENCY TRAINING IN MASSACHUSETTS - A NEW APPROACH TO STATE-UNIVERSITY COLLABORATION

Traditional state-university collaborations, known as public-academic liaisons (PALs), have resulted in improved quality of service and enha nced residency training. Recent national trends for treating persons w ith serious mental illness, including moving services from institution al settings to community-based care and emphasizing the use of rehabil itative approaches as well as changes in the health care delivery syst em itself; have led to preliminary rethinking of some discrete aspects of more traditional approaches. Rather than discrete changes, Massach usetts has responded to these emerging trends with a new and comprehen sive initiative that emphasizes one set of statewide standards in thes e emerging content areas for all residency training programs. Consiste nt with new practices in health care delivery, this new initiative was fielded through a process of competitive bidding rather than through traditional allocation of service positions. The development, implemen tation, and initial outcomes of this new approach are presented and im plications for mental health administrators are discussed.