Managed care is quickly displacing fee-for-service medicine in Texas. Texas is struggling with the question of how to regulate behavioral health care organizations (BHOs) that deliver mental health and substance abuse services, effectively. BHOs are assuming many of the same characteristics of HMOs, yet are not held to comparable financial solvency or quality assurance standards. This report examines the challenges faced by Texas regulators in devising a regulatory framework for managed mental health care plans and recommends strategies for strengthening consumer protections under managed care.
-- Author's abstract.
