Book Description

The changing role of managed care can be a daunting challenge to both experienced clinicians and students entering into the practice for the first time. Managed care seems to have come out of nowhere and has affected the psychotherapy community so strongly that private-practice clinicians are finding that they must reinvent their practices in order to work well with managed care systems. The Textbook of Behavioral Managed Care presents, in a well organized and comprehensive manner, the basic definitions of managed care; its effects on clinicians; and most importantly, how clinicians can respond to the pressures of managed care and still maintain the quality of their practices. For experienced clinicians, the information in this volume will prove invaluable in adapting to the ever increasing role of managed care; for the student entering into practice, the book is an essential tool for understanding the forces that managed care has brought into play. The better managed care companies have two goals: to stretch behavioral health resources and, ultimately, to improve quality. In light of these two important tasks, this book demonstrates that truly effective implementation of managed care requires sophistication of experienced, knowledgeable, specialized therapists. The Textbook of Behavioral Managed Care will provide clinicians with a greater level of understanding that enables them to implement managed care in the most effective manner possible.