title: Introduction: risk-adjustment issues in mental health services.
abstract: State mental health authorities and other public and private entities are developing outcome measures and comparing results across providers, programs, and systems. To make comparisons equitable, outcomes must be risk adjusted. This article provides an introduction to mental health risk adjustment and outlines issues involved in the selection of outcome and risk variables, data collection protocols, and analytic methods. It stresses the importance of proper identification of risk-adjustment variables and models. The article concludes with the next steps necessary to develop a valid approach to the risk-adjustment methodology.
authors.affiliation: Washington Institute for Mental Illness Research and Training, Washington State University, Spokane 99201, USA. Hendryx@wsu.edu
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Hendryx
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beigel
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Doucette
mesh_terms: D019985:Benchmarking; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D015233:Models, Statistical; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D011635:Public Health Administration / Q000592:standards*; D020379:Risk Adjustment; D014481:United States