PAB Meeting 7/26

This quarter's Project Advisory Board meeting is scheduled for 10:00-2:00 Thursday 26 July 2007 at the Bureau of TennCare complex in Metro Center, Nashville. Below is some background on the main topic to be presented; we are inviting additional folks from the state agencies and other groups to attend. Below is that invitation:

We would like to invite you to attend a presentation on the Washington Circle performance measurement system for substance abuse services at the next T-ACT project advisory board meeting, 26 July 2007, at the Bureau of TennCare.

The panel should be of interest to:

• state agency policy experts interested in data-based policy planning and measuring quality of care in the service delivery system using existing data collected by the state;
  
• state agency data experts interested in developing methods to convert existing data into planning information;
  
• executive directors and administrators of provider agencies interested in demonstrating the effectiveness of their treatment services to policy makers and payors;
  
• insurance and managed care companies that are interested in assuring value in the services they purchase on behalf of their consumers.

Below is some background information about the Washington Circle program, the speakers, and the content of their presentation.

We very much hope that you will be able to attend.

Sincerely,

The T-ACT Team


Fast, Cheap and Under Control: Quality Improvement Using the Washington Circle Performance Measurement System
Washington Circle is an initiative sponsored by SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) that has developed process quality measures for substance abuse services using administrative databases. The group is comprised of representatives from state and federal government, universities, and private sector groups. Examples of measures include: rates of identification of substance use disorders, rates of treatment initiation, and rates of treatment engagement. Besides developing the measures, the group has made public its decision rules and procedures for calculating the measures so that other states may participate, for both adult and adolescent populations.

Their work in the private sector resulted in several measures being adopted by NCQA (National Committee on Quality Assurance) into its HEDIS performance measurement system, standards to which TennCare has determined the new middle-Tennessee MCOs must adhere. The group has worked recently to adapt these measures for clients served in the public sector but outside of traditional insurance, in particular, SAPT block grant funded services. Among the states presently participating are: Oklahoma, Delaware, North Carolina, Washington, New York, Arizona, Connecticut, and Los Angeles County.

The state of Oklahoma has been a leader in implementing this performance measurement system. They have calculated these measures using existing administrative data and are reporting the data publicly and to contracted providers. In working with Brandeis University, which is the lead university in the Washington Circle program, they have demonstrated that clients who are more engaged in treatment (as measured by Washington Circle) also tend to have less future involvement in the criminal justice system. In fact, it was Oklahoma's success in implementing these performance measures that resulted in their Commissioner, Terry Cline, being appointed administrator of SAMHSA in 2006.

We've invited Dr. Deborah Garnick (Brandeis University) and Tracy Leeper (State of Oklahoma) to speak about the Washington Circle performance measurement program. Dr. Garnick will speak about the Washington Circle measurement system and how it fits in a process of quality monitoring and system improvement. She will also describe how these measures fit with other SAMHSA initiatives like the National Outcomes Measures (NOMs). Ms. Leeper will speak about how Oklahoma has implemented these measures, including issues involved in developing organizational support for calculating the measures and working with treatment providers to ensure acceptability to addiction professionals. They will also present information about Oklahoma's system and how it is performing.

Bios
Deborah Garnick is a Professor in the Institute for Behavioral Health at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and Associate Dean, Academic Personnel. She received her doctorate in health services research from Johns Hopkins University. Currently, Dr. Garnick leads the Brandeis team in a collaboration with RTI focused on technical development of the National Outcome Measures (NOMs) for behavioral health in a project funded by the SAMHSA. She has led NIH-funded studies focused on exploring the association between substance performance measures and outcomes. She serves as is the Co-Principal Investigator on studies that involve tracking of drug and alcohol abuse services and mental health services provided by the managed behavioral health care industry. In addition, she is a member of the Washington Circle Policy Group and leads their workgroup on public sector performance measures for substance abuse. Dr. Garnick often serves as an expert consultant, most recently as a member of the National Quality Forum’s Substance Use Disorders and Evidence Based-Practices Technical Advisory Panel. Dr. Garnick has published widely the topics of injuries among Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, state-level health insurance reform legislation, quality of hospital and ambulatory care, methods of using data collected for administrative purposes for health services research, and performance measures for substance abuse.

Tracy Leeper has worked for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS) for the last fifteen years in the Decision Support Services Division, conducting data analysis, performance monitoring and program evaluation. She has served as manager of all of the Department's data system and performance indicator grant projects for the last nine years. She is a member of the Governing Board's Performance Improvement Committee, serves as the chair for the State's Interagency Behavioral Performance and Outcome Monitoring Workgroup involving eight state agencies, is a member or the Department's Institutional Review Board and serves as the Chair for the Southern States Mental Health Statistics Improvement Program User Group. Ms. Leeper has also served as an ATR consultant, providing technical assistance to the California ATR team on compiling and reporting project outcomes.