Legal and regulatory challenges in public-private managed behavioral healthcare program procurement: moving beyond the conflicts.

In the past year a number of states have initiated managed behavioral healthcare proposals to reform the delivery of public mental health services. Those in Florida, Iowa and Pennsylvania have been met with administrative and legal challenges. Given the potential controversies surrounding this procurement process, the authors suggest some guidelines on how to improve the process and thereby enhance public/private collaborations--to the benefit of states, behavioral healthcare providers and clients.