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  • Title: Mental health/substance abuse treatment in managed care: the Massachusetts Medicaid experience.
    Author: Callahan JJ, Shepard DS, Beinecke RH, Larson MJ, Cavanaugh D.
    Journal: Health Aff (Millwood); 1995; 14(3):173-84. PubMed ID: 7498890.
    Abstract:
    Massachusetts was the first state to introduce a statewide specialty mental health managed care plan for its Medicaid program. This study assesses the impact of this program on expenditures, access, and relative quality. Over a one-year period, expenditures were reduced by 22 percent below predicted levels without managed care, without any overall reduction in access or relative quality. Reduced lengths-of-stay, lower prices, and fewer inpatient admissions were the major factors. However, for one population segment--children and adolescents--readmission rates increased slightly, and providers for this group were less satisfied than they were before managed care was adopted. Less costly types of twenty-four-hour care were substituted for inpatient hospital care. This experience supports the usefulness of a managed care program for mental health and substance abuse services, and the applicability of such a program to high-risk populations.
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