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Large employers' selection criteria in purchasing behavioral health benefits

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Abstract

To determine the criteria other than cost large employers use in selecting and monitoring behavioral health benefits, this study interviewed 31 of 44 (70.4%) randomly selected corporations employing at least 5,000 workers. While more than 60% of employers considered administrative efficiency and provider access to be very influential in their selection of behavioral health benefits, only 12.9% (95% confidence interval 0.7%–25.1%) considered clinical outcomes. Employers who considered clinical outcomes in their purchasing decision reported significantly greater satisfaction with the quality and cost of their behavioral health benefits. Following selection, 38.7% of corporations used employee complaints to monitor quality problems in their behavioral health benefits; 3.2% used clinical outcomes. If society expects employers to purchase behavioral health care on the basis of quality as well as cost, more employers need better indicators of quality.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centers for Mental Healthcare Research, Department of Psychiatry, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 5800 West 10th Street, Suite 605, 72204, Little Rock, AR

    Kathryn Rost Ph.D. (Associate Professor)

  2. the Centers for Mental Healthcare Research in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, USA

    Jeffrey Smith B.S. (project director) & John Fortney Ph.D. (assistant professor)

Authors
  1. Kathryn Rost Ph.D.
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  2. Jeffrey Smith B.S.
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  3. John Fortney Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Kathryn Rost Ph.D..

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Rost, K., Smith, J. & Fortney, J. Large employers' selection criteria in purchasing behavioral health benefits. The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research 27, 334–338 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02291744

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