Healthcare is now practiced in a different financial and delivery system than it was two decades ago. Currently managed care defines what is treated, how, by whom and for what reimbursement. Mental health professionals have been greatly impacted by these changes to their practice, and yet, there is little understanding of exactly what it is and where it is going. The present volume explores these issues, prospects and opportunities from the vantage of mental health /medical professionals and managed care executives who are in the very process of implementing changes to the existing system of managed care. Behavioral healthcare will be integrated into medical practice in the future for sound clinical and economic reasons. The present volume, edited by four prominent mental health professionals provides a roadmap of the emerging directions integrated behavioral healthcare is taking and lays out the steps the mental health professional needs to take--in training, and modifying her/his clinical practice--to adapt to the new system of healthcare.

Author Biography

Nicholas A. Cummings, Ph.D., Sc.D. is the President of the Foundation for Behavioral Health and Chairman of the Nicholas & Dorothy Cummings Foundation, Inc. He was the founding CEO of American Biodyne (MedCo/Merck, then Merit, now Magellan Behavioral Care). He is also the former President of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Cummings was the founder of the four campuses of the California School of Professional Psychology, the National Academies of Practice, the American Managed Behavioral Healthcare Association, and the National Council of Professional Schools of Psychology. He was also the Chief Psychologist (Retired) at Kaiser Permanente. He was the former Executive Director of the Mental Research Institute. Currently, Dr. Cummings is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Nevada, Reno.Janet L. Cummings, PsyD., is President of the Nicholas & Dorothy Cummings Foudation, Inc., and former staff psychologist at American Biodyne (MedCo, now Merit Behavorial Care). She earned her Doctorate at the School of Professional Psychology, Wright State University, 1992. Victoria Follette is a professor of psychology and associate dean of Arts and Science at UNR who specializes in the treatment of trauma. Dr. Follette graduated from the University of Memphis and the University of Washington and is interested in the education of psychologists for the new millennium. Steven C. Hayes is Nevada Foundation Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Nevada. An author of twenty books and more than 275 scientific articles, his career has focused on an analysis of the nature of human language and cognition and the application of this to the understanding and alleviation of human suffering. In 1992 he was listed by the Institute for Scientific Information as the 30th "highest impact" psychologist in the world during 1986-1990 based on the citation impact of his writings. Dr.Hayes has been President of Division 25 of the American Psychological Association, of the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology and of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy. He was the first Secretary-Treasurer of the American Psychological Society, and is currently co-chair of the Practice Guidelines Coalition. This summer he received the Don F. Hake Award for Exemplary Contributions to Basic Behavioral Research and Its Applications from Division 25 of the American Psychological Association. William O'Donohue is the Nicholas Cummings Professor of Organized Behavioral Healthcare at the University of Nevada, Reno. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Philosophy. He has authored over 100 articles and chapters and co-edited more than 15 books.