MENTAL-HEALTH PRACTICE IN PRIMARY-CARE - SOME PERSPECTIVES CONCERNINGTHE FUTURE OF SOCIAL-WORK IN ORGANIZED DELIVERY SYSTEMS

The rise of managed care as the dominant form of health care delivery in the U.S. clearly has dramatic implications for the profession of so cial work. Thus far and for good reasons, the professional dialog abou t managed care has largely focused on the threats posed to the profess ional agenda of social work by managed care in its various forms. This article considers some of the more positive aspects of the transforma tion from fee-based to population-based healthcare systems, in particu lar the vigorous trend toward multidisciplinary primary care and colla borative mental health practice in primary care settings. It is argued that the market forces behind this trend also promote the emergence o f models of social work practice that better integrate historically di chotomized aspects of health and mental health practice. Also consider ed are implications for social work education and the division of labo r among the healthcare professions.