What Is Measurement Based Care?

what is measurement based care (MBC) is a clinical process where mental health clinicians and their clients use patient-reported outcome measures to track progress and inform treatment decisions. It empowers clinicians and clients by improving communication and collaboration, reducing drop-out rates, and increasing client engagement.

MBC is a proven strategy to increase client engagement, reduce drop-out rates and improve outcomes. Clinicians are able to evaluate treatment effectiveness, case manage off-track clients and inform clinical decision-making and quality improvements with objective clinical insight right at their fingertips.

The key to implementing measurement-based care is finding the right EHR that provides the functionality and tools needed to track quantitative data and create client progress monitoring reports. This data can be used to demonstrate the quality and impact of your services to payors, support value-based reimbursements and deliver a superior client experience.

How Does It Work?

To implement measurement-based care, clinicians need symptom rating scales that are accurate, reliable and sensitive to change. They also need the ability to re-measure symptoms throughout treatment so that they have a clear understanding of which symptoms are getting better and which ones aren’t. Ideally, these symptom ratings can be collected at the beginning of each session so that therapists and their clients can have a full picture of what is happening with a client’s symptoms.

There are many benefits of utilizing symptom rating scales, but there are some disadvantages as well. Symptom ratings are time-consuming and require that the client complete them at least every three months, which means that it can be difficult to obtain up-to-date feedback in a timely manner.

Another drawback to symptom rating scales is that they can be expensive. Moreover, they aren’t always easy to interpret. This can be a big challenge for therapists who need to interpret the results and determine the best way to proceed with therapy.

Using electronic health records that are specifically designed for behavioral healthcare makes the task of tracking data and reporting results easier. They also provide a platform for syncing the data with other health information systems, which is vital in helping to ensure that client outcomes are tracked and recorded.

The right EHR will make the process of implementing measurement-based care much less complex and help clinicians get paid for it more easily. This is because payers are more willing to reward and reimburse providers that take the time and effort to monitor their patients’ behavior and progress with a higher degree of accuracy.

A high-quality EHR will streamline the entire measurement-based care process, making it more efficient to collect and chart data, while also allowing for easy communication with clients. This will help therapists provide better, more personalized care and get the most out of their time with each client.

Despite the benefits of measurement-based care, it is still relatively uncommon in clinical settings. Typically, only 18% of psychiatrists and 11% of psychologists utilize rating scales in their routine practice. However, this is changing due to the growing interest in a data-driven approach to treatment and with the rise of value-based healthcare.