Evaluation of Florida's Medicaid Managed Mental Health Plans: Year 9 Report

Publication Date: 6/1/2006

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Description:

The Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA), the agency that oversees Florida's Medicaid program, began managed care for general health services in 1984 and in 1996, established prepaid mental health programs (PMHPs) for community mental health care. On behalf of the AHCA, we, at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, have been conducting a series of integrated, multi-method evaluation projects to examine the effects of managed care on access, cost, quality, and outcomes of mental health services since the establishment of the PMHPs. This is the 9th report in a series of yearly reports that document the implementation of prepaid mental health programs and the expansion of community mental health benefits being managed by Medicaid Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs). However, this report reflects an important transition in the development of managed care programs in Florida; it is the first that tracks the statewide implementation of these initiatives.

In this year's analysis, we focus on the development of new prepaid programs in AHCA Areas 5 and 7, as well as the expansion of comprehensive mental health benefits in HMOs in other AHCA areas. In addition to an implementation analysis, we are including summary findings from a children's quality of care study conducted in Area 5 and a mail survey of Medicaid enrollees conducted in Areas 5 and 7, just prior to the expansion of mental health managed care in those areas. Finally, we present a series of analyses of previously obtained administrative data for the period of January 2001 to June 2004 from the Area 1 implementation of managed mental health care in which we examine new approaches for evaluating service penetration and outcomes.