title: Process measures for the assessment and improvement of quality of care for schizophrenia.
abstract: The development of process measures for the assessment and improvement of care for schizophrenia is at an early stage. As part of a national inventory of mental health quality measures, we identified 42 process measures developed to assess the quality of schizophrenia care. A greater proportion of measures assessed pharmacotherapy than assessed psychosocial interventions or other clinical processes, such as assessment, continuity, or coordination. Twenty-five measures (60%) were based on research evidence linking measure conformance with improved patient outcomes, while 17 (40%) were based on clinical consensus or opinion. Only 12 measures (29%) were fully operationalized. Few were tested for validity or reliability. A number of demonstration projects currently under way should expand the pool of well-developed and tested measures. Further research and consensus development will be needed to identify common measurement priorities, reduce the data collection burden, enhance the interpretability of results, and allow for comparisons of clinical practice across facilities and health care systems.
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health, Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge Hospital, MA 02139, USA. Richard_Hermann@hms.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Richard C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Hermann
authors.forename: Molly
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Finnerty
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Provost
authors.forename: R Heather
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Palmer
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Greta
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lagodmos
authors.forename: Terri
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Teller
authors.forename: Britt J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Myrhol
mesh_terms: D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003156:Community Mental Health Services; D019091:Critical Pathways; D006801:Humans; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology