Characteristics of health plans that treat psychiatric patients

Nationally representative data regarding the organizational, financial, and procedural features of health plans in which psychiatric patients receive treatment indicate that fewer privately insured, Medicaid, and Medicare man aged care enrollees receive care from a psychiatrist than is true for "nonm anaged" enrollees. Financial considerations were reported to adversely affe ct treatment for one-third of all patients. Although utilization management techniques and financial/resource constraints commonly applied to patients in both managed and nonmanaged plans, performance-based incentives were ra ve in nonmanaged plans. The traditional health plan categories provide limi ted information to identify salient plan characteristics and guide policy d ecisions regarding the provision of care.