Since 2008, the National Council has offered member organizations the opportunity to participate in multiple phases of its Access and Retention initiatives. These initiatives are designed to provide organizations the tools and resources to make access to care more timely, to address revenue losses due to no-show appointments, and to master technology to improve performance and that can be applied to other problem areas within their organizations.

Through our work with more than 60 community-based behavioral healthcare organizations nationwide, the National Council has proven that it is feasible to increase engagement in treatment by reducing the time it takes to enter care. This new way of doing business has quickly demonstrated that more expedient access to care improves continuity and more quickly engages consumers.

Results

Organizations participating in the National Council's Access and Retention initiatives have achieved unprecedented results:

• Average of 60% reduction in consumer wait times — with greater engagement and reduced no-shows.
• Average of 39% reduction in cost of access to treatment process and 34% reduction in staff time needed per access to treatment event.
• Up to 50% reduction in the number of data elements collected.
• Average of 9 hours per week in time saved per direct care staff on documentation.
• Average 26% increase in intake capacity with no increase in FTEs.
• Average of over $200,000 in annual savings in access to care costs per organization

Learn more about these results through the MTM Services outcomes website and by downloading these articles in the Healthcare Reform issue of National Council Magazine (download article PDFs):

• No More No Shows!
  How Carlsbad Transformed Service Delivery through Customer Engagement by Noel Clark, CEO, Carlsbad Mental Health Center
• Stop Waste, Eliminate Wait
  National Council Access Redesign Initiative Saves Agencies $200,000 a Year! by Scott Lloyd, Vice President, MTM Services

Resources

• National Council's Access Redesign Quality Improvement Initiative
• National Council's Enhanced Access and Engagement Quality Improvement Initiative: Strategies to Increase Therapy Adherence 
• Letter from President & CEO Linda Rosenberg, National Council Practice Improvement Initiatives
• National Council LIVE Webinar Presentations
  • Healthcare Reform and Parity: A Qualitative Approach to Enhanced Treatment Capacity, by David Lloyd and Sandy Myers, July 13, 2010
  • Open Scheduling to Improve Access & Retention, by Noel Clark and Louis Thorp, Feb 10, 2009

• Mental Health Weekly report on the National Council's performance improvement initiatives