The impacts of mental health parity and managed care in one large employer group: a reexamination.
Although the impacts of carve-outs to managed behavioral health care organizations (MBHOs) and parity mandates on costs are largely settled in the literature, their impacts on access are less clear. Here we reexamine a study published by Samuel Zuvekas and colleagues in this journal, which found that the number of people receiving mental health/substance abuse treatment increased by almost 50 percent after the introduction of mental health parity and an MBHO. Using multivariate panel data methods, we now suggest that secular trends were largely responsible for this increase.
Zuvekas
Samuel H
SH
Center for Financing, Access, and Cost Trends, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD, USA. szuvekas@ahrq.gov
Rupp
Agnes E
AE
Norquist
Grayson S
GS
D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D004651:Employment; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D008329:Managed Care Programs; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D014481:United States