RAND: Carve-outs may not mean less addiction treatment.(managed behavioral health care carve-outs for substance abuse treatment)

Although managed behavioral health care carve-outs can change service utilization patterns for substance abuse treatment, carve-outs do not necessarily mean fewer services for clients than what they typically receive in health maintenance organizations (HMOs), a recent study concludes.

In fact, the study from researchers at Santa Monica, Calif.-based RAND suggests that while both residential and outpatient substance abuse services are often diminished under behavioral carve-outs, more intermediate services are made available to compensate for the reductions.

The study was based on an analysis of a large Midwestern employer that in 1995 placed its employees' …