Implications of Managed Care for the Training of Psychiatrists

Abstract

The advent of managed care principles in psychiatry has led to a variety of concerns about quality of care and loss of professional autonomy.¹ However, an equally serious and potentially more damaging effect may be in the area of training future psychiatrists. The basis of managed mental health care systems is increased efficiency, lower cost, reduced utilization of expensive care for less expensive forms of care and service provision. These reasonable service goals can easily be perverted to result in a training environment which is incompatible with a full training experience.