MANAGED CARE AND ITS POSSIBLE EFFECTS ON PREDOCTORAL PSYCHOLOGY
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 have implications for predoctoral internships in psychology. In this regard, Shapiro (1995) has stated that surveys of private practice psychologists indicate that if the trend toward managed care continues, the majority of psychologists will report diminished earnings by the year 2000. Moreover, Humphreys (1996) has stated that as managed care and other cost-containment strategies become central features of the American health care system, doctoral-level clinical p...