MANAGED CARE, MENTAL-ILLNESS AND AFRICAN-AMERICANS - A PROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF MANAGED CARE POLICY IN THE UNITED-STATES

The shift in health care policy towards managed care is designed to de crease costs and increase health security. In this article, managed ca re policy and processes are analyzed, using a states-rights framework, to determine the prospective impact on African Americans with mental illness. Historical and current data on the health status of the Ameri can population is presented to show the different patterns of help-see king, access, and utilization by race. This data suggests that without cultural guidelines, clinical services for African Americans are like ly to increase costs, As a result of the incongruence between managed care goals and processes and the service usage patterns of African Ame ricans, it is concluded that managed care organizations may have limit ed incentives to service this population. To counteract this tendency, managed care organizations need to develop/apply culturally competent guidelines and clinical standards for this population.