Managed Care and the Quality of Substance Abuse Treatment

Copyright © 2002 ICMPE Background: In the US, the spiraling costs of substance abuse and mental health treatment caused many state Medicaid agencies to adopt managed behavioral health care (MBHC) plans during the 1990s. Although research suggests that these plans have successfully reduced public sector spending, their impact on the quality of substance abuse treatment has not been established. Aims of the Study: The Massachusetts Medicaid program started a risk-sharing contract with MHMA, a private, for-profit specialty managed behavioral health care (MBHC) carve-out vendor on July 1, 1992. This paper evaluates the carve-out’s impact on spending per inpatient episode and three proxy measures of quality: (i) access to inpatient treatment (ii) 30-day re-admissions and (iii) continuity of care