MENTAL-HEALTH AND MANAGED CARE

Managed care has become the dominant method for financing and deliveri ng care far common mental health problems and for people with severe, chronic mental health conditions. Despite the rapid growth of managed mental health care, there is very little research available to guide p olicy choices. Managed care has led to decreased costs for employers a nd other payers, mostly through reducing hospital admissions or length of stay. Managed care organizations use staff with lesser levels of t raining (e.g. social workers instead of psychiatrists) and are more li kely to offer group outpatient programs and manualized treatment than their fee-for-service counterparts. Despite these differences, there i s no clear evidence that health outcomes are worse for patients in man aged care. There is an urgent need for researchers to turn their atten tion to issues such as cost, quality, access, satisfaction, and functi onal outcomes associated with managed mental health care. The impact o f parity of mental health with insurance coverage for physical conditi ons is another important question that needs to be addressed.