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Implementing for Sustainability: Promoting Use of a Measurement Feedback System for Innovation and Quality Improvement

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Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Measurement feedback systems (MFSs) are increasingly recognized as evidence-based treatments for improving mental health outcomes, in addition to being a useful administrative tool for service planning and reporting. Promising research findings have driven practice administrators and policymakers to emphasize the incorporation of outcomes monitoring into electronic health systems. To promote MFS integrity and protect against potentially negative outcomes, it is vital that adoption and implementation be guided by scientifically rigorous yet practical principles. In this point of view, the authors discuss and provide examples of three user-centered and theory-based principles: emphasizing integration with clinical values and workflow, promoting administrative leadership with the ‘golden thread’ of data-informed decision-making, and facilitating sustainability by encouraging innovation. In our experience, enacting these principles serves to promote sustainable implementation of MFSs in the community while also allowing innovation to occur, which can inform improvements to guide future MFS research.

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Notes

  1. As a point of view, we focus primarily on the experience and work of the CFS development and implementation team. It should be noted that there is a growing literature on the implementation of MFSs and routine outcomes monitoring, which is partly represented by several of the authors in this special section.

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Acknowledgments

This paper was partially supported by the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01MH087814. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vanderbilt University, 230 Appleton Place #552, Hobbs 211B, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA

    Susan Douglas

  2. Astor Services for Children & Families, Bronx, NY, USA

    Suzanne Button

  3. Providence Services Corporation, Bowdoinham, ME, USA

    Susan E. Casey

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  1. Susan Douglas
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  2. Suzanne Button
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  3. Susan E. Casey
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Correspondence to Susan Douglas.

Additional information

Susan Douglas has been previously published as Susan Douglas Kelley. The three co-authors have a decade of shared experience in development and implementing measurement feedback systems as part of a research-practice partnership.

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Douglas, S., Button, S. & Casey, S.E. Implementing for Sustainability: Promoting Use of a Measurement Feedback System for Innovation and Quality Improvement. Adm Policy Ment Health 43, 286–291 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-014-0607-8

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