ABSTRACT
Several states and other governmental entities have decided that capitation may be the most desirable method of providing managed mental health care for persons with SPMI. Capitation has been described as the best payment mechanism since it includes “an increase in service flexibility, particularly in outpatient services; new configurations of services that are broader, better coordinated and less redundant and reduced financial barriers that make earlier intervention possible. A system that integrates services under a single agency and provides patients with a case manager to guide them through the system could ensure more appropriate and cost-effective care. Capitation funding is believed to produce incentives to intervene early in acute episodes of chronic illness to alleviate more serious consequences” (Rothbard, Hadley, Schinnar, Morton, & Whitehill, 1989).
