tial treatment or hospital based treatment each year, 2 million children receive outpatient mental treatment. It has also be documented that at least 30 percent of all elementary school children experience moderate to severe school adjustment problems. According to the World Health Organization, it is estimated that by the year 2020, childhood mental disorders will rise by over 50 percent internationally. This means that childhood mental disorders will become on of the five most common causes of morbidity, mortality, and disability among children. There are several problems associated with the diagnosis of a mental disorder in a child. One problem is that pediatricians are the PCPs for young children. However, they do not have the training or time for mental disorder diagnosis. Also, it is difficult to distinguish between mental health problems and normal aspects of a child’s development. And, of course, the stigma attached to mental disorders keep parents from getting their child the proper treatment. There are positive and negative sides to enrolling a mentally ill child into a managed care plan. Some advantages to managed care are the improvement of the coordination of health care services, the offering of medical home care for children who would otherwise only receive episodic care, and the encouragement of preventive health services. On the downside, under capitation, health plans have an incentive to enroll only health, low risk children, and providers have an incentive to provide less care than is needed. Under managed care there may also be some limitation to the enrollees’ choice of providers. Specialized behavioral health carve-outs are another are of concern. Approximately 80 percent of children with mental disorders are covered under these carve-outs. This is an area of concern due to the utilization of services, quality of services and coordination of services. The cost to treat a child with a men...
