End of An Era: The Last Of The Standalone Behavioral Health Carve-Outs

Last week was the end of an era in health care financing. With the purchase of Magellan by Centene (see Centene To Acquire Magellan Health For $2.2 Billion), there are no more standalone companies focused solely on managing behavioral health benefits. As of 2002, there were more than 800 organizations that offered managed behavioral health and employee assistance programs, and Magellan Behavioral Health had the largest enrollment with 30% of marketshare (see OPEN MINDS Yearbook of Managed Behavioral Health & Employee Assistance Program Market Share in the United States, 2002-2003).

At the time, these “horizontal carve-outs” were . . .