A managed behavioral health organization operated by an academic psychiatry department

As a means of adapting to managed care, the psychiatry department at Wake F orest University developed a managed behavioral health organization (MBHO) to manage the care of enrollees in QualChoice, the health maintenance organ ization of the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. Before the ac ademic MBHO was created, care was managed by a for-profit MBHO. In this cas e study; financial and utilization data were obtained from both MBHOs and f rom QualChoice. The data confirm that the academic MBHO was able to offer c ompetitive rates for its services. It also was able to increase enrollees' use of the medical center's own providers and facilities by making more ref errals than were made by the for-profit MBHO. Developing a managed behavior al health organization can allow academic psychiatry departments, either in dividually or as consortia, to presence the patient base they require for t eaching, research, and financial stability.