title: Use of measurement audit in outcomes management.
abstract: With the growing emphasis on accountability in mental health services, outcomes management strategies are gaining popularity. However, for these techniques to be credible, it is necessary to ensure the reliability of clinical data. In other words, outcomes measures must accurately reflect the actual status of service recipients. This article presents the use of the measurement audit as one means of monitoring and improving the reliability of outcomes measurements. The methods and findings from an audit of crisis assessment workers for children in state custody are presented. Clinical assessments completed at the time of service were compared with assessments using the same measure completed via retrospective file review. Findings suggest generally good reliability, 0.72 overall, with some variation by provider and type of information.
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Services & Policy Program, Northwestern University Medical School, 339 East Chicago Avenue, Room 717, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. jsl329@nwu.edu
authors.forename: John S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lyons
authors.forename: Purva
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rawal
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.forename: Scott C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Leon
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tracy
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002655:Child Custody; D003211:Concurrent Review; D003419:Crisis Intervention / Q000592:standards*; D003625:Data Collection / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D007087:Illinois; D008485:Medical Audit / Q000379:methods*; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000628:therapy; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D011586:Psychology, Clinical / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014600:Utilization Review