Open AccessCommentary: caring for the indigent mentally ill--new strategies and old problems.
Author(s) -
Ernesto Ferran
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.82.6.796
Subject(s) - medicaid , reimbursement , mental health , mentally ill , medicine , service (business) , psychiatry , nursing , health care , family medicine , gerontology , mental illness , business , political science , law , marketing
Christianson and his colleagues examine how Medicaid beneficiaries receive mental health services in HMOs by analyzing two important aspects of service delivery: the use of community-based treatment programs by Medicaid beneficiaries enrolled in health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and the reimbursement levels paid to these programs by HMOs. The hypotheses studied are complex issues that concern mental-health advocates and providers. Traditional community-based mental health services have always struggled to maintain their presence in the health care field, having to contend with changing funding priorities and more serious and multiple problems presented by their patients. For prepaid plans to work effectively for the indigent mentally ill, the complex issues have to be made clear and acknowledged as meaningful variables.