The impact of managed care on children's outpatient treatment: a comparison study of treatment outcome before and after managed care.

This study examined treatment outcome pre- and post-managed care in 3 samples of patients (N = 885; ages 5 to 18 years) at an urban-based children's psychiatric outpatient clinic. Although the post-managed care groups were seen for fewer sessions than the pre-managed care group, there was no difference between the pre- and post-managed care groups in clinical outcome.