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Managed care policy: Meeting the mental health needs of the aged?
- Article from:
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Generations
- Article date:
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July 1, 1998
- Author:
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Copyright informationCopyright American Society on Aging Summer 1998. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Mental disorders affect one in five elderly people (Rouse, 1995). Clinical depression and dementia affect a large number of the elderly, yet programs targeted to the elderly to treat these illnesses are rare. Adoption of managed care in order to control costs and unnecessary utilization presents particular problems for mental health care. Diagnosis and treatment of mental conditions is less concrete and more malleable than many forms of physical care, leaving mental health care especially open to narrow interpretation designed to control costs and utilization.
As a large generation of Americans now moves into its older years, how will managed care assure appropriate mental health care for ...