Quality Measures for Mental Health Programs
Because of the different mental health needs of individuals seeking professional help, rural mental health providers must be flexible when implementing treatment plans. This can make standardization and measurement of mental health programs difficult.
Though treatment flexibility is important, rural mental health programs must ensure that they incorporate validated quality measures to monitor program success. Quality measures can measure a variety of program aspects, including:
- Structural
- Process
- Outcome
- Patient satisfaction
There is an assortment of validated quality measures that can be used, depending on the target population and what is being assessed. For example, two sets of quality measures that are related to youth mental health programs are the Young Adult Health Care Survey (YAHCS) and the Promoting Health Development Survey (PHDS). Other quality measures include the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems CAHPS Experience of Care and Health Outcomes Survey (ECHO) for adults.
Resources to Learn More
Mental
Health Quality Measures
Website
Outlines various quality measures that can be used for mental health programs.
Organization(s): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)