New directions in alcohol and drug treatment under managed care.
(25/1841)
OBJECTIVE: To examine the potential effects of the introduction and expansion of managed care on the financing and organization of public and private alcohol and drug abuse treatment systems by reviewing studies on managed care and substance abuse. STUDY DESIGN: Spending on treatment for alcohol and drug abuse, the organization of treatment, treatment workforce composition, provision of services, and their implications for access and treatment outcome were examined by review of the treatment literature. RESULTS: Managed care has had major effects on the organization of service delivery, the workforce, and the provision of services. Most of the changes have occurred without the benefit of clinical or policy research. Although managed care has the potential ability to address longstanding problems associated with alcohol and drug treatment, it also presents additional barriers to access and improving treatment outcome. CONCLUSIONS: The review suggests that organizational approaches, particularly the settings in which treatment is placed, will differ in their impact on ties between treatment agencies and the medical community, and ties with other health and social service agencies. Also of importance is a new emphasis on accountability of treatment through the mechanisms of outcomes monitoring and performance indicators. It remains to be seen whether these innovations will be meaningfully linked with outcomes research. It is incumbent on researchers and clinicians to explore these issues. (+info)
Managed public mental healthcare: issues, trends, and prospects.
(26/1841)
OBJECTIVE: To describe the structure and status of public mental healthcare and the impact of managed behavioral healthcare on this system. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: The structure and financing of public mental health systems were reviewed. Because there are no controlled multisite studies of managed public sector behavioral healthcare, case examples were used to illustrate trends and issues. DISCUSSION: The methods, results, and impact of public managed behavioral healthcare are incomplete and uncertain. The complexity of the public sector system, the patients served in it, and the services provided are daunting. The variability of patient needs, the role of Medicaid versus state funding, and the variable governance structures of local systems in different states make managed care methods more complex than in private markets. CONCLUSIONS: The organization, structure, and financing of public mental health systems have developed rapidly in the past generation as care has been moved from hospital to community. Early efforts to apply managed behavioral healthcare methods used in the private, commercially paid sector have not been very successful, and most public sector managed care efforts have been limited to Medicaid-paid care. The trend in public mental health systems is to "unpack" managed care and use its tools selectively. (+info)
Use of performance standards in behavioral health carve-out contracts among Fortune 500 firms.
(27/1841)
OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence and nature of performance standards in specialty managed behavioral healthcare contracts among Fortune 500 companies. STUDY DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional survey of all companies listed on the Fortune 500 during 1994, 1995, or both. METHODS: From April 1997 to May 1998 we conducted a mailed survey with phone follow-up. Of the 68% of firms that responded, over one third reported carve-out contracts. The survey focused on whether companies had behavioral health carve-out contracts with specialty vendors and characteristics of these contracts, including the use of performance standards. RESULTS: More than three quarters of the Fortune 500 companies reporting specialty behavioral healthcare contracts used at least one performance standard. Most common were administrative standards (70.2%) and customer service standards (69.4%). About half of the companies used quality standards, whereas only a third used provider-related standards. Most (58.8%) companies using performance standards also specified financial consequences. Larger Fortune 500 firms were significantly more likely to use performance standards. Risk contracts and contracts that included all covered employees were also more likely to include some categories of standards. CONCLUSIONS: Administrative and customer service standards may be most common because companies find it easier to specify those standards, especially compared with clinical quality measures. To the extent that employers want to obtain the most value from their behavioral healthcare purchasing, we expect that more will begin to adopt quality standards in their contracts, especially as performance measures become more refined. Reliance on accreditation, however, is an alternative approach for employers. (+info)
Rational service planning in pediatric primary care: continuity and change in psychopathology among children enrolled in pediatric practices.
(28/1841)
OBJECTIVE: To examine the stability of the occurrence of psychiatric disorders in a nonpsychiatric sample of young children. METHOD: There were 510 children ages 2-5 years enrolled through pediatric practices, with 391 children participating in the second wave, and 344 in the third wave of data collection 42-48 months later. The assessment battery administered at each wave yielded best-estimate consensus DSM-III-R diagnoses and dimensional assessments of psychopathology. RESULTS: The prevalence of disruptive disorders (DDs) decreased, while emotional disorders (EDs), other disorders, and comorbid DD increased. The DDs were associated with lower family cohesion, more maternal negative affect, stressful life events, and male gender. Comorbid DDs were associated with increasing age and family cohesion. Older children, lower family cohesion, and maternal negative affect were associated with EDs. Time trends for the dimensional assessment of psychopathology was similar to DSM-III-R disorders, but correlates differed. CONCLUSIONS: We discuss implications for service planning in pediatric primary care. (+info)
A psychological behavioral screening service: use, feasibility, and impact in a primary care setting.
(29/1841)
OBJECTIVE: To describe a psychology behavioral screening service and the use of the service in subsequent primary care provider (PCP) treatment decisions. METHODS: The goal of the behavioral screening service was to obtain standardized parent and teacher rating scale data for children identified by PCPs as having possible behavioral problems. Medical chart review data were collected on 147 children for 1 year following screening to evaluate (1) PCP follow-up of the behavioral concern, (2) prescription of psychotropic medications, (3) referral to mental health services, and (4) receipt of mental health services. RESULTS: Children screened by this psychology service had clinically significant behavioral problems, according to both parent and teacher data; PCPs appeared to use screening results to guide decisions about medication prescription but not mental health referrals. Children with more behavioral problems were more likely to be prescribed psychotropic medications and to be seen by a mental health professional. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that a psychology behavioral screening service is feasible and may help guide PCP treatment decisions for children with behavior problems, particularly regarding the prescription of psychotropic medication. (+info)
A comparison of the effects of computer and manual reminders on compliance with a mental health clinical practice guideline.
(30/1841)
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relative effectiveness of computer and manual reminder systems on the implementation of a clinical practice guideline. DESIGN: Seventy-eight outpatients in a mental health clinic were randomly assigned within clinician to one of the two reminder systems. The computer system, called CaseWalker, reminded clinicians when guideline-recommended screening for mood disorder was due, ensured the fidelity of the diagnosis of major depressive disorder to criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV), and generated a progress note. The manual system was a checklist inserted in the paper medical record. MEASURES: Screening rates for mood disorder and the completeness of the documentation of which DSM-IV criteria were met by patients who were said to have major depressive disorder were compared. RESULTS: The CaseWalker, compared with the paper checklist, resulted in a higher screening rate for mood disorder (86.5 vs. 61 percent, P = 0.008) and a higher rate of complete documentation of DSM-IV criteria (100 vs. 5.6 percent, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In an outpatient mental health clinic, computer reminders were shown to be superior to manual reminders in improving adherence to a clinical practice guideline for depression. (+info)
Psychiatric morbidity, service use, and need for care in the general population: results of The Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study.
(31/1841)
OBJECTIVES: This study examined the use of primary health care, mental health care, and informal care services, as well as unmet care needs, by individuals with different psychiatric diagnoses. METHODS: Data were derived from the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study and were based on a representative sample (n = 7147) of the general population (aged 18-64 years). RESULTS: In a 12-month period, 33.9% of those with a psychiatric disorder used some form of care; 27.2% used primary care, and 15.3% used mental health care. Patients with mood disorders were the most likely to enlist professional care; those with alcohol- and drug-related disorders were the least likely to do so. Higher educated persons who live alone, single parents, unemployed persons, and disabled persons were more likely to use mental health care. Unmet need for professional help was reported by 16.8% (men 9.9%, women 23.9%) of those with a disorder. CONCLUSIONS: Care use varies widely by diagnostic category. The role of general medical practitioners in treating persons with psychiatric disorders is more limited than was anticipated. Patients in categories associated with extensive use of professional care are more likely to have unmet care needs. (+info)
Mental health parity legislation: much ado about nothing?
(32/1841)
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether state-level parity legislation has led to an increase in utilization of mental health services. DATA SOURCES: Healthcare For Communities (HCC), a multi-site nationally representative study sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that tracks health care system changes for mental health and substance abuse treatment. Information on state-level parity legislation was provided by state offices of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI); local and state market data come from the Area Resource File; information on other health mandates from Blue Cross/Blue Shield. STUDY DESIGN: Two-stage regressions are used to estimate the effect of state parity legislation on use of any mental health services, use of specialty mental health services, and number of specialty visits in the past year. In the first stage, we predicted the probability that a state decides to pass parity legislation as a function of state health care market indicators and previous legislative activity. The fitted probability is used in the second stage to determine the effect of this legislation on access and utilization. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: State parity legislation is not associated with a significant increase in any of our measures of mental health services utilization. These results are robust to various specifications of the models. CONCLUSIONS: Those states that are able to pass parity legislation do not experience significant increases in the utilization of mental health services. This may be due in part to a loss of coverage for those people most at risk for mental health disorders. The results could be very different, however, if strong federal legislation were passed. (+info)