ABSTRACT
Many competent and energetic practitioners have come to lament a dissatisfying or problematic relationship with managed mental health care’s (MMHC) referral sources, despite an understanding and appreciation of the market’s needs. Typically, practitioners in this stage comment that the MMHC utilization management procedures are too intrusive, that MMHC will negatively affect patient care, or that it will eventually fade away and practice will return to more traditional modes. Many practitioners have reached a level of acceptance with MMHC systems. Most clinicians are adept at assisting patients in becoming aware of or re-evaluating their personal values or beliefs. Clinicians who manage or provide care in organized delivery systems believe that change in patients, while inevitable, does not occur only within the context of the treatment visit or the patient-therapist relationship. An assessment of MMHC systems readily reveals certain operation values and clinical philosophies shared by managers and providers.
