Are you having accreditation nightmares about client-reported outcome measures? Don’t worry! The Partners for Change Outcome Management System (PCOMS) and Better Outcomes Now (BON) have your back in two ways. PCOMS and BON satisfy the push for evidence-based practices and deliver reliable and valid measurement of client-reported outcomes. This blog focuses on the latter.
Behavioral health organizations worth their salt—or those that want to be reimbursed—must be accredited by the Joint Commission, the Council on Accreditation (COA), or the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). The accreditation process provides a framework for organizations to continuously improve and offer best practices to support clients and their communities. Compliance with accreditation standards helps organizations achieve measurable results; remain committed to the health, safety, and the rights of clients; and support their staff to ensure sustainability and continued growth.
Measuring client-generated outcomes is one among many standards that behavioral health organizations are now required to follow by all three of the aforementioned accrediting bodies. Often times, these practices are detailed in an organization's Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Plan.
A CQI plan assures that:
These standards emphasize the primacy of the client, the importance of professional competence, and the effectiveness or outcome of strategies employed. The standards promote a philosophy that we can always improve on what we are doing.
Compliance with innumerable standards can be a daunting task requiring the ongoing work of key members of your organization from your Board of Directors to front-line staff. Here’s where PCOMS and BON save the day.
Better Outcomes Now is designed to help you meet those portions of the outcome measurement standards now required of behavioral health and substance abuse agencies. And of course, all BON functionally is available for remotely delivered services.
In preparation for accreditation or reaccreditation, your organization should have policies and practices in place to demonstrate evidence of a service delivery informed by client-generated outcomes. Following are six helpful hints.
The BON network of users includes subject matter experts from many accredited organizations who bring expertise specifically as it relates to PCOMS and BON. Its leading expert and developer of the clinical process of PCOMS, Dr. Barry L. Duncan, is involved in all aspects of assisting organizations to generate the reports needed to demonstrate compliance. BON Vice President, Barbara Hernandez, based on many years as the Chief Operating Officer of a public behavioral health agency that scored nearly perfect on accreditation reviews, also offers consultation on policy development to demonstrate compliance.
Start a free trial today of the BON outcome measurement tool and end your accreditation nightmares: