Key Personnel:
Amy C. Vargo, M.A.
Patty Sharrock, M.S.W.
Jennifer Pedraza, B.A.
Frank Reyes, A.A.
Stephen Roggenbaum, M.A.
Mary Ann Kershaw, B.S.
A Study of the Quality of Children's Behavioral Health Services within Florida's Managed Behavioral Health Care Plans: Phase II - Service System Evaluation
Publication Date: 6/1/2006
Description:
This study examined the quality of Medicaid-funded mental health services provided to a sample of children with serious emotional disturbance (SED) and their families in Pinellas and Pasco County, Florida (AHCA Area 5). The children were enrolled in one of the following Medicaid Prepaid Mental Health Program (PMHP) or Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO): Florida Health Partners (PMHP), Harmony (HMO), Amerigroup (HMO). The study was conducted in two phases: measure development (Phase I) and service system evaluation (Phase II). This report details Phase II (the service system evaluation) of the study. Findings from Phase I of the study (measure development) are detailed in a separate report (Vargo et al., 2006). For the current report, the overarching research question was: How effective are the PMHP and HMO service systems at responding to the needs of and delivering high quality behavioral health services to children with SED and their families? Since Medicaid managed behavioral health care was only recently implemented in AHCA Area 5, it is important to consider this evaluation a baseline study.
