Outcomes management: incorporating and sustaining processes critical to using outcome data to guide practice improvement.
An outcomes management system (OMS) greatly facilitates an organization or state achieving requirements regarding accountability and use of empirically based interventions. A case example of the authors' experience with a successful and enduring OMS is presented, followed by a review of the literature and a proposed model delineating the key components and benefits of an OMS. Building capacity to measure performance requires embedding utilization of youth-specific, clinically meaningful outcome data into the organization's processes and structures. An OMS measures outcomes associated with services, facilitates implementation of evidence-based practices, informs case decision making, enables better and more efficient clinical management, and provides aggregated information used to improve services. A case-specific supervisory model based on instantaneously available information, including progress to date, helps maximize consumer outcomes. Continuous quality improvement activities, which are databased and goal-oriented, become a positive change management tool. This paper describes organizational processes that facilitate the development of a highly functional OMS.
Institute for the Study of Children, Families, and Communities, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI, USA. hodges@fasoutcomes.com
Kay
K
Hodges
James R
JR
Wotring
D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003628:Database Management Systems / Q000592:standards*; D003657:Decision Making; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D017146:Models, Organizational; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012984:Software; D017749:Total Quality Management