The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has updated its Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, including with new information specifically addressed to individuals in the European Economic Area. As described in the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, this website utilizes cookies, including for the purpose of offering an optimal online experience and services tailored to your preferences.

Please read the entire Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. By closing this message, browsing this website, continuing the navigation, or otherwise continuing to use the APA's websites, you confirm that you understand and accept the terms of the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, including the utilization of cookies.

×

Objective:

Multiple studies demonstrate a consistent pattern of improvement on quality measures among health care organizations after they begin collecting and reporting data. This study compared results on psychiatric performance measures among cohorts of hospitals with different characteristics that elected to begin reporting on the measures at various points in time.

Methods:

Quarterly reporting of Hospital-Based Inpatient Psychiatric Services (HBIPS) measures to the Joint Commission was used to examine trends in performance among four hospital cohorts that began reporting in 2009 (N=243), 2011 (N=139), 2014 (N=137), or 2015 (N=372). The HBIPS measures address admission screening, restraint and seclusion use, justification of use of multiple antipsychotic medications, and discharge planning. Comparisons were based upon initial quarters of data reported and change rates.

Results:

After adjustment for covariates, the analyses showed that all cohorts significantly improved across quarters for admission screening, justification of multiple antipsychotic medications, and discharge planning. Restraint hours significantly dropped over the initial reporting periods, but only for the 2009 and 2015 cohorts. Seclusion hours significantly dropped over the six reporting periods for all cohorts except 2011.

Conclusions:

Several differences were observed across cohorts in the rate of change between baseline and final measurement for various measures. In nearly every case, however, hospitals that began reporting measurement data earlier performed better than subsequent cohorts during the later cohorts’ first quarter of reporting.