Managing behavioral health care: an employer's perspective

Employee life cycle events and behavioral health disorders impact productivity and well-being. Employers use wellness initiatives and employee assistance or work-family programs to help manage those factors that can distract employees from performing optimally. Employer-sponsored health benefits are designed to protect employees from the catastrophic costs of illness. However, today's plan designers struggle with employee and employer affordability that does not compromise quality or effectiveness. In 1990, Digital Equipment Corporation, Maynard, Mass., shifted its strategy from an indemnity model to a managed care model that uses health maintenance organizations. Comprehensive standards are used to ensure the delivery of quality behavioral health care that is cost effective, is delivered at the clinically appropriate levels, and uses a broad continuum of treatment approaches with measurable outcomes.