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Panel discusses social work's current trends

While many students were basking in the warm sun outside, about 30 health care and social work professionals and students sat down yesterday and discussed social work's current trends. The conference, held in the Rackham Building, was titled "Trends in Health Care, Mental Health and Family Practice."

"The implications for how social workers practice are changing rapidly," said Lilly Harmon-Rohde, University director of field instruction.

Participants said the field is changing quickly because of the strong connection between health care and the field of social work. "You can take the words `health care' and apply them to any social work agency," said David Neal, director of social work in psychiatry at the University Medical Center.

The conference included panels on the impact of managed care on Medicaid and clinical practice, as well as a lecture on ethical issues in managed care.

"Managed care is defined as a system that provides complete medical care," said Candy Brown, coordinator of the Medicaid Managed Care Ombudsman program at the Corner Health Center.

The nation as a whole is moving toward managed care, in which prices are set in advance for specific operations and other services rendered, said Jeff Walker, an administrative manager at University Hospitals.

"Everyone must realize this is a new day in health care, and the status quo will not survive," Neal said, quoting Gail Warden, president and CEO of Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. "(Under) managed care... medical outcomes equal to those achievable under the old paradigms were being seen," Neal said, again quoting Warden.

Discussing managed care and its relation to Medicaid, Neal said, "In many ways, the Medicaid patients have better care under the managed health plan."

"In the past, Medicaid patients have overused emergency services and under-used preventative services," Brown said.

Managed care attempts to stop overuse of emergency rooms and "bring the emphasis on prevention," said Shari Brown, a Medicaid managed care ombudsman for Downriver Community Services.

"In March 1995, the state switched to a mandatory managed care system for Medicaid patients," Candy Brown said.

Though it seemed like progress was made in understanding the current health care system, "nobody really knows what is the best model," Neal said.

The state's current budget for its newly formed Department of Community Health is $8.3 billion, over a third of the state's total budget.