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A Summary Report of Cost-Effectiveness: Recognizing the Value of Family Therapy in Health Care

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Medical Family Therapy

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a summary of cost-effectiveness research on the work of marriage and family therapists in healthcare contexts. Twenty-one studies based on four sources of data were considered: (a) a western United States Health Maintenance Organization covering 180,000 subscribers; (b) the Kansas State Medicaid system with over 300,000 beneficiaries; (c) Cigna, a large United States health insurance benefits management company which provided data regarding more than six million claims for 500,000 unique persons across 6 years; and (d) a family therapy training clinic in the western United States serving approximately 700 individuals and families annually. All DSM diagnostic groups are available for analysis. Studies regarding schizophrenia, depression, sexual disorders, somatoform disorder, substance abuse, and relational diagnosis have been published and others are underway. Results support the potential for a medical offset effect after family therapy, with the largest reduction occurring for high utilizers of health care. The studies also show that family therapy as a treatment modality is a cost-effective form of treatment and trained family therapists are cost-effective providers. These outcomes are particularly important for medical family therapists (MedFT) who need to understand how medical offset, healthcare utilization, and cost-effective treatments are relevant to their work.

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    An asterisk has been use to note references that the chapter authors recommend for further reading.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Family Life at Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA

    D. Russell Crane

  2. Mount Mercy University, Cedar Rapids, IA, USA

    Jacob Christenson

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  1. D. Russell Crane
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  2. Jacob Christenson
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Correspondence to D. Russell Crane .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Child Development & Family Relations, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA

    Jennifer Hodgson

  2. Child Development & Family Relations, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA

    Angela Lamson

  3. Family Social Science Couple and Family Therapy Program, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA

    Tai Mendenhall

  4. School of Family Life, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA

    D. Russell Crane

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Crane, D.R., Christenson, J. (2014). A Summary Report of Cost-Effectiveness: Recognizing the Value of Family Therapy in Health Care. In: Hodgson, J., Lamson, A., Mendenhall, T., Crane, D. (eds) Medical Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03482-9_22

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