The state of California has implemented three standardized functional assessment tools in an effort to help providers better meet the needs of children, youth and families. Care Providers are required to complete outcome measures at the beginning and end of behavioral health and addictions treatment, as well as every three to six months following the first administration. The three measures are:<\/p>\n
Historically, client reported data has not been consistently used or required within Behavioral Health and Addictions Services. This means that services have had very little data informing what works and what doesn\u2019t\u2014 and, as a result, the quality of behavioral health care has been slow to improve.<\/p>\n
California\u2019s move towards mandatory measurement is an important step in the right direction for the quality of care in California, bringing the state closer to Measurement-Based Care (MBC) and the significant benefits that come with it. However, it\u2019s important to note that while assessments administered every 3-6 months can assist with reporting, they don\u2019t meaningfully impact the quality of care for an individual or help to significantly improve the system overall, like MBC can.<\/p>\n
Why not?<\/p>\n
Well, just knowing something has changed in the last 3-6 months doesn\u2019t help \u00a0explain why that change has happened, dig into patterns, or inform conversations between clients and providers that can reveal more information about the causes.<\/p>\n
To better understand the differences, let\u2019s compare the CANS measurement requirement in California to Measurement-Based Care (MBC):<\/p>\n
CANS is a thorough measurement assessment that provides top-line information as to where a client is when they enter care, and where they are at the end. This allows for data to be collected and used to report on care outcomes and to help inform a system of care.<\/p>\n
The problem?<\/strong> You don\u2019t learn why<\/em><\/strong> something has changed.<\/p>\n It could have been the result of of therapy, sleep patterns, significant life changes, etc., which may have nothing to do with the therapeutic process. Imagine you have a client with headaches everyday, and three months later their headaches stop. Just knowing they\u2019ve stopped is important, but you would want to understand why they\u2019ve stopped in order to help ensure the headaches don\u2019t return, how to manage them when they do or to help inform the next person you see that has similar symptoms. Without knowing why, treatment can\u2019t improve.<\/p>\n With Measurement-Based Care, an assessment like the CANS would be an ongoing part of therapy, administered every two weeks or at an interval decided by the provider and client – offering data that is full of insights to inform treatment. Here are some of the key benefits:<\/p>\n Measurement-Based Care flips the measurement model on its head\u2014making its purpose, first and foremost, to provide clinical value to the clinician and client and ultimately improve client engagement, therapeutic alliance, and clinical outcomes. The benefits don\u2019t end there, as MBC also provides clinics, hospitals and health systems with the data they need to innovate services and improve quality of care for everyone, regardless of people\u2019s backgrounds, experiences and presenting issues.<\/p>\n Ensuring that measurement is a part of the clinical process in California, and elsewhere, is a great step in the right direction\u2014but it\u2019s just addressing the tip of the iceberg; MBC addresses what is underwater. \u00a0We\u2019re excited to see the continued adoption of Measurement-Based Care across North America, and the drastic improvement of care that will be seen with it.<\/p>\n \u200d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The statewide implementation of required measurement is a significant step towards improved quality of behavioral health care in California. We\u2019re excited by the progress and hope it\u2019s just the beginning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.grnspace.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.grnspace.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.grnspace.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.grnspace.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.grnspace.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.grnspace.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3214\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.grnspace.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.grnspace.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.grnspace.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Measurement-Based Care<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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