Ethical Issues For Behavioral Health Care Practitioners And Organizations In A Managed Care Environment

Managed care has produced dramatic changes in the treatment of mental health and substance abuse problems, known as behavioral health. Managing Managed Care offers an urgently needed assessment of managed care for behavioral health and a framework for purchasing, delivering, and ensuring the quality of behavioral health care. It presents the first objective analysis of the powerful multimillion-dollar accreditation industry and the key accrediting organizations. Managing Managed Care draws evidence-based conclusions about the effectiveness of behavioral health treatments and makes recommendations that address consumer protections, quality improvements, structure and financing, roles of public and private participants, inclusion of special populations, and ethical issues. The volume discusses trends in managed behavioral health care, highlighting the emerging role of the purchaser. The committee explores problems of overlap and fragmentation in the delivery of behavioral health care and discusses the issue of access, a special concern when private systems are restricted and public systems overburdened. Highly applicable to the larger health care system, this volume will be of particular interest to all stakeholders in behavioral healthâ€"federal and state policymakers, public and private purchasers, health care providers and administrators, consumers and consumer advocates, accrediting organizations, and health services researchers.

Written by a recognized expert in assessment employed by a large managed behavioral healthcare organization (MBHO), this book seeks to provide psychologists who rely on testing as an integral part of their practice, a guide on how to survive and thrive in the era of managed behavioral healthcare. It also offers ideas on how to capitalize on the opportunities that managed care presents to psychologists. The goal is to demonstrate that despite the tightening of the reins on authorizations for reimbursable testing, psychological testing can continue to play an important role in psychological practice and behavioral healthcare service delivery. The book presents ideas for: *increasing the likelihood of getting tests authorized by MBHOs; *using inexpensive/public domain assessment instruments; *ethically using psychological testing in MBHO settings; *capitalizing on the movement to integrate primary care and behavioral healthcare through the use of psychological testing; and *designing and implementing outcomes assessment systems within MBHO settings. Intended for practicing psychologists and other behavioral health practitioners employed by MBHOs in direct service delivery, care management or supervisory positions, as well as for graduate clinical or counseling psychology students who will most likely work in MBHO settings.

This imaginative book is a fictionalized account of clinician Dr. Evelyn Bloom and businessman Adam Wilder who attempt to run a start-up managed behavioral healthcare company in a highly ethical manner. Each example in the book offers an understanding of the complex legal and ethical challenges that are inherent in the managed behavioral health care environment.