1. Funding Quality Mental Health Care: Opportunities and Challenges Ken Wells (Moderator)

2. Session Objective To identify tensions for private and public insurers/purchasers in defining and implementing incentives for quality mental health care, given cost containment goals, and their resources and constraints. To illustrate insurer/purchaser-academic partnerships that address those tensions. To ponder how to advance quality in mental health care.

3. Themes Diverse insurers and purchasers can engage in partnerships to define and support incentives for quality improvement for mental health services. Such efforts are challenged by competing demands and priorities of diverse stakeholders, real-time changes in systems and quality measurement limitations.

4. Themes (cont.) Research investments have lead to better data for planning and programs that support quality care (e.g., depression). Opportunities to implement quality initiatives or to reformulate policy goals to support them, benefit from research partnerships. These partnerships challenge the expectations and conventions of current research fields, systems, and funders.

5. Presenters United Behavioral Health Lisa Meredith (RAND) Francisca Azocar (UBH) Medicaid Benjamin Druss (Emory) Mark Trail (Medicaid, Georgia) Medicare Michael Schoenbaum (RAND)