Effects of Managed Care Programs

Americans are joining managed care programs in ever increasing numbers; indeed, it is estimated that the two major forms of managed care (HMOs and PPOs) are currently providing health care benefits to about 40 percent of the nation's employees (Raffell & Raffell, 1994). The increased use of managed care systems is not without implications for those currently being educated as professional mental health care providers.

With respect to the foregoing, one implication is how managed care might affect the predoctoral internship in psychology. Unfortunately, there has been absolutely no research directly examining this topic.

However, there are two areas of research that might provide some insight into the possible affects of managed care on the predoctoral internship in psychology: (1) studies of how managed care has generally affected mental health care services; and (2) studies of how managed care has affected other professional internships in the health care field. The purpose of this paper is to examine these studies and use them to formulate conclusions as to the possible influences of managed care on the predoctoral internship in psychology.

General Affects of Managed Care on Psychological Services And

Their Implications For Predoctoral Psychology Internships

Managed care has appeared to have a number of effects on the delivery of psychological services, many of which appear to

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ning of psychotherapists is going to be brief therapy; this because it is a major cost-containment strategy of managed mental health care. It could be that predoctoral internships will flourish in this specialty. If the foregoing possibilities are valid, it could mean that one of the greatest difficulties with respect to predoctoral level internships could chance. In this regard, Miller (1995) has reported that predoctoral internships in psychology have become increasingly competitive and stressful due to a selection method that utilizes a job description that is increasingly limited in scope. However, managed care cost-containment limitations, while perhaps making it more difficult for individuals once they receive the doctorate, may in fact expand the scope of internship training, thereby providing more internships. Research on How Managed Care Has Affected Other Professional Internships in the Health Care Field and Its Implications For Predoctoral Psychology Internships As with the foregoing studies, research on the effects of managed care on other professional internships in the health care field indicates that managed care programs may increasingly utilize interns. In this regard, Barzansky, Jonas and Etzel (199
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Approximate Word count = 1673
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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