Tracking Changes in Behavioral Health Services
How Has Managed Care Changed Care?
The system for providing treatment for mental health and substance abuse has changed so quickly and dramatically that research about its effects has not been able to keep up. There are few empirical studies about how managed care affects access, quality, outcomes, and costs of mental health and substance abuse services. Reliable data are essential for sound policy decisionmaking. For example, in the mid-1990s, many were concerned that the costs of parity legislation (mandates requiring employers to cover mental health care at the same level as medical care) would be prohibitive. But RAND studies of managed care plans that had already implemented full parity showed that under comprehensively managed care — today's dominant arrangement — unlimited mental health benefits cost not much more than capped benefits, and substance abuse benefits were also not very costly.
Document Details
- Copyright: RAND Corporation
- Availability: Web-Only
- Pages: 4
- Document Number: RB-4531
- Year: 2000
- Series: Research Briefs
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