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Washington DC, July 26, 2010—The Tennessee Association of Mental Health Organizations (TAMHO) is the latest entrant into SPQM, a data-driven mental health improvement initiative of the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare (National Council) and MTM Services.

“Tennessee’s mental health providers realize the time has come for clear, concise information about the services we provide and the outcomes we get. It’s an urgent need in the face of the toughest state budget climate we’ve seen — we must demonstrate value,” said Dick Blackburn, executive director of TAMHO. “Committed to quality care, SPQM will take us to the next level and enhance the credibility of public mental health services in the state,” he added.

TAMHO was drawn to SPQM because of its successful application in Colorado and by the system’s simplicity. SPQM doesn’t impose additional data collection burdens, instead it works with data mental health providers already submit to managed care companies. “SPQM extracts meaningful information and without information, we are vulnerable,” reiterated Blackburn.

Linda Rosenberg, president and CEO of the National Council said, “There is little to no federal or state support for systems that measure effectiveness at the point of service, so National Council members are taking matters into their own hands. Clear about their accountability to purchasers, end users and taxpayers, members recognize the need to meet the enhanced performance and accountability standards that national healthcare reform demands.”

In Arkansas, Colorado, and Louisiana, SPQM has driven quality improvement and enhanced the credibility of public mental health services. And in more than 100 communities in the rest of the country, SPQM is working with behavioral health organizations to analyze service data, extracting key demographic and outcome information and facilitating clinical improvements. SPQM is helping organizations to achieve transparency and multiple efficiencies — reducing client no-shows, streamlining access, increasing capacity and enhancing clinician productivity.

SPQM is helping to evolve national benchmarks so providers no longer have to operate in isolation — they can compare populations served, service mix and variance in care and outcomes, according to David Lloyd, CEO of MTM Services and co-founder of SPQM. Lloyd pointed out that “SPQM is steering behavioral health away from the old ‘hat in hand’ approach for requesting funding. We can go to policy makers with hard data that makes the case for adequate resources.”

In Colorado, with the help of SPQM, providers were able to demonstrate an increase in the number of patients served by 10.9 percent in 5 months, resulting in withdrawal of proposed mental health funding cuts. SPQM also showed that despite a huge increase in the number of persons eligible for Medicaid, the uninsured were growing at a much faster pace. And SPQM allowed organizations to document the 26.3 percent increase, in a single quarter, of mental health services provided through the Children’s Health Insurance Program when expanded mental health services became available in 2009.

“We did not have the ability, before we implemented SPQM in 2006, to respond as a system to legislative or public inquiries about the people we were serving from all funding sources. Any and all data had to be extricated from the state, and their database does not compare to the breadth of information that can be gleaned from SPQM,” said George DelGrosso, executive director of the Colorado Behavioral Healthcare Council.
 

The National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) association of 1,700 behavioral healthcare organizations that provide treatment and rehabilitation for mental illnesses and addictions disorders to nearly six million adults, children and families in communities across the country. The National Council and its members bear testimony to the fact that medical, social, psychological, and rehabilitation services offered in community settings help people with mental illnesses and addiction disorders recover and lead productive lives.