Building an empirically based outcomes information system for managed mental health care

Abstract

The establishment of managed care in mental health provides both a challenge and an opportunity. Managed mental health care presents the incentive to reduce costs by eliminating or discouraging care. Done unwisely, such a step could lead to Untoward clinical consequences. However, managed care also provides an opportunity for systematically gathering data that can lead to improved care for persons with mental illness. This column describes how one national managed mental health care corporation, MCC Behavioral Care, Inc., in cooperation with the University ofMinnesota, has undertaken the creation ofa clinical management information system. The system was designed both to improve accountability for the outcomes of care and to improve care by determining what interventions are most effective for various patient groups. This approach has been implemented to obtain information on substance abuse treatment in 50 be-