Patterns of service use in two types of managed behavioral health care plans.
OBJECTIVE
The study examined service use patterns by level of care in two managed care plans offered by a national managed behavioral health care organization (MBHO): an employee assistance program (EAP) combined with a standard behavioral health plan (integrated plan) and a standard behavioral health plan.


METHODS
The cross-sectional analysis used 2004 administrative data from the MBHO. Utilization of 11 specific service categories was compared. The weighted sample reflected exact matching on sociodemographic characteristics (unweighted N=710,014; weighted N=286,750).


RESULTS
A larger proportion of enrollees in the integrated plan than in the standard plan used outpatient mental health and substance abuse office visits (including EAP visits) (p<.01) and substance abuse intensive outpatient or day treatment (p<.05), and the proportion using residential substance abuse rehabilitation was lower (p<.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The integrated and standard products had distinct utilization patterns in this large MBHO. In particular, greater use of certain outpatient services was observed in the integrated plan.
Merrick
Elizabeth L
EL
Institute for Behavioral Health, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454, USA. merrick@brandeis.edu
Hodgkin
Dominic
D
Hiatt
Deirdre
D
Horgan
Constance M
CM
Azzone
Vanessa
V
McCann
Bernard
B
Ritter
Grant
G
Zolotusky
Galima
G
McGuire
Thomas G
TG
Reif
Sharon
S
D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States