Mental Health, Medicaid and Managed Care: Building a Unified System in Massachusetts

This case study explores the issues that arise when two state agencies—the Medicaid agency and the state mental health authority—come together to develop a managed care program for persons with serious mental illness. Reported from the perspective of the director of the SMHA, the study demonstrates how effective managers can resolve problems when autonomous state agencies, with different cultures and missions, join to blend funding streams in a program for a vulnerable population. The report also illustrates a particular form of case study investigation. This study was prepared by researchers at the Kennedy School of Government under the direction of Robert Dorwart, M.D., M.P.H.