Measurement-Based Care Makes Sovereign Health the Right Choice
Choosing a program for patients with mental health and addiction issues is challenging. There are so many options and it is hard to tell what distinguishes one network from another. But medical organizations and experts agree – using measurement-based care (MBC) in treating patients promotes better outcomes. Scientific research has shown the same.
What Is Measurement-Based Care?
Measurement-based care (MBC) can be defined as the practice of basing clinical care on client data collected throughout treatment. By measuring symptoms from the patient’s perspective before, during and after treatment, clinicians gather valuable information that is used to help treatment teams:
- Determine the appropriate level of care
- Monitor patient progress
- Adjust therapy or medications as needed
- Become aware of “red flag” symptoms, such as suicidal thoughts
- Evaluate treatment program effectiveness
In compliance with MBC practices, patients treated at Sovereign Health independently complete standardized questionnaires that are scored and used by treatment teams to guide care. The data is sent to an independent psychiatric performance evaluation service for quarterly analysis and comparison with 50 other leading treatment centers. According to the quarterly analyses from January 2016 to present, Sovereign has consistently ranked above the national comparison group for their overall scores.
The MBC instrument used is the Behavior and Symptoms Identification Scale (BASIS-24®), a scientifically tested and widely used MBC tool consisting of 24 questions that is administered to patients before and after residential treatment. The questions ask patients to rate their symptoms and functional impairments on a five-point scale. (Click here to see a sample of the BASIS-24® questionnaire.)
The BASIS-24® is designed for use by mental health providers, researchers, purchasers of mental health services, accreditation agencies and internal quality assurance departments to measure improvement or deterioration of self-reported patient symptoms and problems before and after treatment. The results are used to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment, services and care from the perspective of the patient across the six main areas, including:
- Self-harm and suicide risk
- Depression and ability to function
- Relationships and interpersonal behavior
- Emotional lability (mood swings)
- Psychosis
- Substance use
- Overall symptoms