| Abstract: | Cost containment has become the major theme of the day within health care. The growing "corporatization" of health services has drawn the attention of many clinical psychologists, and a number have expressed deep concern over the incursions of health maintenance organizations into psychologists' practice. They have claimed that the process of corporatization in health care has caused a genuine "crisis" that will destroy the practices of many psychologists, unless practitioners themselves adopt corporate methods and alter their mode of practice to fit a brief-treatment model. In this article, the context of pressures for cost containment is examined, and Cummings's proposed model for American Biodyne Centers is reviewed. Cummings's claim that Biodyne is an alternative to corporatization is questioned, as is the notion of crisis in health care. In the new models of corporate-inspired practice in psychology, the therapeutic relationship is poorly conceptualized, and patient interests are treated as secondary in importance to organizational demands for cost savings. In the absence of clear conceptualization of why, whom, and how clinicians hope to help, the professional status of clinical psychology is placed at serious risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
