Public-Private Collaboration Applauds Progress in Performance Measurement of Inpatient Behavioral Health

WASHINGTON, July 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As founding partners of a unique public-private collaboration to advance performance measurement in behavioral health, the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD), the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems (NAPHS), the NASMHPD Research Institute, Inc. (NRI), and the American Psychiatric Association (APA) today applauded The Joint Commission's (JC) announcement of the next phase of the "Hospital-Based Inpatient Psychiatric Hospitals" (HBIPS) core measures initiative. See www.jointcommission.org/hbips for full details.

For nearly a decade, these behavioral healthcare associations representing state hospitals, private-sector provider organizations, and psychiatrists have pooled their resources and expertise to advance development of psychiatric core measures. Working with The Joint Commission, these groups helped to launch and implement a way for hospitals across the United States to gather and report publicly on key data elements that affect the course of an individual's psychiatric hospitalization from the moment they enter the facility through discharge (including the assessment process, the use of antipsychotic medications, seclusion and restraint, and discharge summary/aftercare).

"Today marks a historic step forward in performance measurement for inpatient psychiatric hospitals," said NAPHS President/CEO Mark Covall. "This is the first time that we will have standardized definitions and reporting requirements that will enable hospital leaders to view their own performance in comparison to their peers'. As part of the hospital accreditation process, the HBIPS requirements will generate national data that all constituencies – including those who receive care, those who deliver treatment, and those who pay for hospitalization – can use to better understand and enhance the inpatient hospital experience. HBIPS will provide actionable data, a way to help hospitals continuously improve care, and accountability. As with federal parity legislation and healthcare reform, the HBIPS initiative recognizes that behavioral health is integral to overall health."

"HBIPS has followed a consensus-building approach throughout development of the measures, involving more than 50 organizations representing all constituencies – including consumers, families, providers, and researchers. We can be confident that these measures have been fully vetted and are 'core' to high-quality hospital-level treatment for psychiatric disorders," said NASMHPD Executive Director Robert Glover, Ph.D.

"The extensive participation that we have seen from both public- and private-sector providers throughout the testing phase of HBIPS is a testament to the field's commitment to the power of data," said NRI Executive Director Noel A. Mazade, Ph.D.

"HBIPS is the culmination of an inclusive, scientific approach to developing core measures for inpatient psychiatry that was conducted with the same rigor used to develop core measures for other areas of medicine such as heart disease and pregnancy," said APA Medical Director/CEO James H. Scully, Jr., M.D.

ABOUT THE ASSOCIATIONS

NASMHPD is the membership organization of the 55 state, territorial, and District of Columbia mental health agencies. Its activities in performance measures include a special steering committee on quality and accountability, promulgation of a comprehensive performance measurement framework, and interorganizational policy dialogues regarding accountability with other health and human service associations. See www.nasmhpd.org.

NAPHS advocates for behavioral health and represents provider systems that are committed to the delivery of responsive, accountable, and clinically effective prevention, treatment and care for children, adolescents, adults, and older adults with mental and substance use disorders. NAPHS represents behavioral healthcare provider organizations, including more than 600 psychiatric hospitals, general hospital psychiatric and addiction treatment units, residential treatment centers, youth services organizations, outpatient networks, and other providers of care. The association was founded in 1933. See www.naphs.org.

NRI, an independent 501 [c] [3] organization, compiles data and information on public mental health programs. It serves as the performance measurement vendor for virtually all state hospitals in the country, analyzing selected performance measures and reporting these confidential data to The Joint Commission. The NRI also issues periodic reports on selected performance measures. See www.nri-inc.org/projects/BHPMS/.

APA is a national medical specialty society whose more than 38,000 physician members specialize in diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and research of mental illnesses including substance use disorders. See www.psych.org.

SOURCE National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems