Expanding Access to Mental Health Counselors: Evaluation of the TRICARE Demonstration

Federal legislation in 2001 required the Department of Defense to conduct a demonstration involving expanded access under TRICARE to licensed or certified mental health counselors. The authors present detailed findings, based on surveys and interviews with stakeholders, on the demonstration's impact on health care utilization, cost, and outcomes. The authors examine and compare pre-demonstration and post-demonstration data, and they compare results of military catchment areas that participated in the demonstration and control catchment areas.