Managed Health Care and Child Mental Health Services: Where Is Horton to Hear the Who's?

The impact of managed care has been dramatic in child psychiatric services. This paper describes the clinical evolution of child mental health services in the US in the context of managed care. The paper notes the lack of information guiding the safety and effectiveness of treatment, and the authors argue that there are both clinical and ethical reasons for managed care organizations to share data about their beneficiaries' treatment outcomes in an effort to improve the safety and quality of psychiatric care to children and adolescents. The authors make recommendations for changes in public accountability and call for collaboration between all parties to occur without further delay.