title: The National Outcomes Management Project: a benchmarking collaborative.
abstract: Traditional evaluation of health care quality usually involves the measurement of the structure, process, and outcome of care. Most quality improvement programs involve a cycle that includes a setting of goals, a measurement of either process or outcomes, and a real-time or retrospective feedback of the results of data measurement. Benchmarking, a well-known efficient business technology, can lead to practice innovations necessary to survive in an environment that has a need for decreasing cost and increasing quality. The purpose of this article is to present a novel use of benchmarking in managed ambulatory behavioral health care and its application in a model collaborative outcome management project at more than 16 sites and nine states in the United States.
authors.affiliation: Center for Quality Innovations & Research, Cincinnati, OH 45219-8048, USA. nick.dewan@uc.edu
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Dewan
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Daniels
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zieman
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kramer
mesh_terms: D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D019985:Benchmarking; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D008499:Medical Records; D017146:Models, Organizational; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D012041:Regional Medical Programs / Q000458:organization & administration; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States