Advanced Search

Taking Issue | March 01, 2005

Measuring the Effectiveness of Outpatient Care

Peter C. Brown; William M. Tucker, M.D.

Psychiatric Services 2005; doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.56.3.241

text A A A

In light of findings that the course of schizophrenia is, in most instances, considerably more favorable than had been previously thought, a consensus has emerged that the appropriate goals for treatment are recovery and reintegration. Therefore, hospital readmission rates and lengths of community tenure can no longer suffice as indexes of appropriate outpatient care. Nevertheless, there has been tremendous resistance in the field to accepting and applying more appropriate indexes. For example, providers argue that they are only partially responsible for the results they achieve.

What indexes might be more appropriate? Peer-advocates are fairly consistent in telling us—and who could argue with these goals?—that their colleagues seek five prerequisites for successful community tenure: adequate housing, access to transportation, a useful function, a social network, and an intimate relationship. To these, an administrator might add two more: access to adequate general health care and as little involvement as possible with the criminal justice system.

To increase the likelihood of achieving these goals, funding will be required to enhance the currently inadequate salary structure of community mental health staff. Current rates of turnover only perpetuate the lack of continuity of care from staff who are capable of providing skilled, individually tailored interventions. Training and maintaining such a workforce will also require greater funding. Furthermore, providers will need help to support the integration of continuous improvement into quality of care.

However, it is axiomatic that the public mental health system consistently makes as strong a case for the need for its services as it does a weak one for their effectiveness. As long as no widely accepted indexes of the results of outpatient care exist, persons making budgets and providing funds can easily ignore funding requests from providers who can make only general claims for the value of their services. A convincing case for funding will have to integrate service evaluation into service provision, modify services as new evidence emerges for more effective practices, and accept compensation for results, rather than for services.

State mental health authorities, organized psychiatry, hospital associations, other organized providers, and peer-advocates will all need to come together to participate in the process of selecting the appropriate indexes, if there is to be any hope of overcoming the resistance noted above. The funding structure is "the ocean through which the marine life of community behavioral health care must swim."

CME Activity

There is currently no quiz available for this resource. Please click here to go to the CME page to find another.

Submit a Comments

Please read the other comments before you post yours. Contributors must reveal any conflict of interest.
Comments are moderated and will appear on the site at the discertion of JBJS editorial staff.

* = Required Field

Comment Author(s)*(if multiple authors, separate names by comma)

Example: John Doe

Affiliation & Institution*

Comment Title*

Comment*

Cancel

Print
PDF
E-mail

Recipient(s) will receive an email with a link (good for 72 hours) to 'Measuring the Effectiveness of Outpatient Care' and do not need to have Psychiatric Services account to access the content.
Your Name:*
Example: John Doe

Email Address:* CC Me:
Enter your valid email address. Example: jdoe@example.com

Recipient's Email Address:*
Separate multiple email address with semi-colons (up to 5).

Subject:* 's Psychiatric Services: 'Measuring the Effectiveness of Outpatient Care'
Subject for your email.

Message:
(Optional, message will truncate at 1000 characters)

Processing your request... Please Wait...

Copyright © in the material you requested is held by The American Psychiatric Association (unless otherwise noted). This email ability is provided as a courtesy, and by using it you agree that you are requesting the material solely for personal, non-commercial use, and that it is subject to The American Psychiatric Association's Terms of Use. The information provided in order to email this topic will not be used to send unsolicited email, nor will it be furnished to third parties. Please refer to The American Psychiatric Association's Privacy Policy for further information.

Copyright © American Psychiatric Association. All rights reserved.
Share
Get Citation

Peter C. Brown, William M. Tucker; Measuring the Effectiveness of Outpatient Care. Psychiatric Services. 2005 Mar;56(3):241-241.

Download citation file:

RIS (Zotero)

EndNote

BibTex

Medlars

ProCite

RefWorks

Reference Manager

Copyright © American Psychiatric Association. All rights reserved.
Reprints