HMO REPORT
What a difference a decade makes. Throughout the 1990s, patients and practitioners have rebelled against an ominous system of unqualified HMO representatives who sloppily lord over sensitive medical decisions. Finally this winter, UnitedHealth Group, one of the biggest managed care companies in the country, made headlines declaring their intention to put doctors back in charge of health care.
One problem: Psychologists and other mental health providers are not included in the plan.
In response, the American Psychological Association, the largest organization of psychologists in the United States, has demanded a meeting with executives at UnitedHealth to change the new policy. Russ Newman, executive director for professional practice at the Washington, D.C.-based APA, says that if the company doesn't comply, he and his colleagues will take the battle to Capitol Hill, asking legislators to secure equal footing for mental health care providers in the managed care industry.
Meanwhile, for the last two years, the APA has been suing Magellan, MCC Behavioral Health and Blue Cross/Blue Shield on behalf of psychologists who have been dropped from their HMOs allegedly as punishment for refusing to cut back on their patients' services.
