Psychologists who provide services under managed care must typically c
ope with session restrictions and time-consuming paperwork to justify
session use. This process has been broadly challenged by critics of ma
naged care. This study investigated the effect of allocating sessions
in outpatient treatment on session use. Providers were authorized eith
er 6, 10, or 19 sessions (benefit maximum), with additional sessions g
iven without restriction. Results showed that doctoral-level psycholog
ists in the 6-session, 10-session, and 19-session groups used up to 2.
5 sessions more than the control group, whereas master's-level provide
rs used up to 5.5 sessions more. Master's-level providers also had an
18% treatment dropout rate, compared with 7% for psychologists. On the
basis of cost analysis, session management is financially warranted f
or master's-level providers bur not for doctoral-level psychologists.