Handbook of Quality Management in Behavioral Health


Book Description

For the first time in history, behavioral health providers are expected to understand and participate in activities intended to access and improve the quality of services they provide. This handbook is designed as a general resource in the field of behavioral health quality management for a very diverse group of readers, including graduate and undergraduate students, payors, purchasers and administrators within managed care organizations, public sector service system planners and managers, applied health services researchers and program evaluators. This volume provides a comprehensive context for the development of quality management (QM) in health services - behavioral health in particular - as well as an overview of tools, techniques, and programs reflecting QM in practice. It also offers perspectives on both internally- and externally-based QM activities.










Psychological Testing in the Age of Managed Behavioral Health Care


Book Description

Written by a recognized expert in assessment employed by a large managed behavioral healthcare organization (MBHO), this book seeks to provide psychologists who rely on testing as an integral part of their practice, a guide on how to survive and thrive in the era of managed behavioral healthcare. It also offers ideas on how to capitalize on the opportunities that managed care presents to psychologists. The goal is to demonstrate that despite the tightening of the reins on authorizations for reimbursable testing, psychological testing can continue to play an important role in psychological practice and behavioral healthcare service delivery. The book presents ideas for: *increasing the likelihood of getting tests authorized by MBHOs; *using inexpensive/public domain assessment instruments; *ethically using psychological testing in MBHO settings; *capitalizing on the movement to integrate primary care and behavioral healthcare through the use of psychological testing; and *designing and implementing outcomes assessment systems within MBHO settings. Intended for practicing psychologists and other behavioral health practitioners employed by MBHOs in direct service delivery, care management or supervisory positions, as well as for graduate clinical or counseling psychology students who will most likely work in MBHO settings.




Preventing Aids


Book Description

This book provides a comprehensive overview of behavioral interventions to prevent HIV-AIDS risk-related behaviors. It synthesizes the empirical literature on individual, group, and community-level interventions and provides an objective and detailed assessment of intervention outcomes. Factors associated with behavioral risk for HIV transmission, theories of HIV risk behavior change, and the state of HIV prevention technology transfer are also reviewed. Additionally, behavioral interventions for adolescents and adults of diverse ethnic and sexual backgrounds are discussed with respect to each intervention type. Although the focus is on sexual risk reduction, interventions for sexual behavior of substance abusing populations are also covered.




The Use of Psychological Testing for Treatment Planning and Outcomes Assessment


Book Description

Test-based psychological assessment has been significantly affected by the health care revolution in the United States during the past two decades. Despite new limitations on psychological services across the board and psychological testing in particular, it continues to offer a rapid and efficient method of identifying problems, planning and monitoring a course of treatment, and assessing the outcomes of interventions. This thoroughly revised and greatly expanded third edition of a classic reference, now three volumes, constitutes an invaluable resource for practitioners who in a managed care era need to focus their testing not on the general goals of personality assessment, symptom identification, and diagnosis so often presented to them as students and trainees, but on specific questions: What course of treatment should this person receive? How is it going? Was it effective? New chapters describe new tests and models and new concerns such as ethical aspects of outcomes assessment. Volume I reviews general issues and recommendations concerning the use of psychological testing for screening for psychological disturbances, planning and monitoring appropriate interventions, and the assessing outcomes, and offers specific guidelines for selecting instruments. It also considers more specific issues such as the analysis of group and individual patient data, the selection and implementation of outcomes instrumentation, and the ethics of gathering and using outcomes data. Volume II discusses psychological measures developed for use with younger children and adolescents that can be used for the purposes outlined in Volume I; Volume III, those developed for use with adults. Drawing on the knowledge and experience of a diverse group of leading experts--test developers, researchers, clinicians and others, the third edition of The Use of Psychological Testing for Treatment Planning and Outcomes Assessment provides vital assistance to all clinicians, and to their trainees and graduate students.