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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Elizabeth Lin, PhD and Janet Durbin. Health Systems Research and Consulting Unit, Centre for Addiction & Mental Health, 250 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1R8, Canada, (416) 535-8501, x 4102, Elizabeth_Lin@camh.net
Performance measurement is an important tool for evaluating services and improving accountability, and there are several frameworks currently available in North America for assessing health and mental health care. One receiving growing attention in Ontario, Canada is the balanced scorecard (Kaplan & Norton, 1992). This approach, originally developed for private sector business, uses four perspectives - customer, internal system, innovation and change, and financial - to provide a broad assessment of an organization. Its appeal lies in its apparent simplicity, comprehensiveness, and practical emphasis on strategy and intervention. It appears to have transplanted reasonably well to inpatient medical services such as acute care. However, mental health services, whether they be inpatient or outpatient, differ enough from other types of care to warrant caution before this approach is widely adopted.
Results are shown from a feasibility study of applying the balanced scorecard to inpatient mental health care. The balanced scorecard is described and briefly compared with existing mental health frameworks. Conceptual and measurement issues are addressed, and two modifications to the scorecard are suggested. The forty indicators eventually selected are described along with examples calculated using existing Ontario administrative data. Issues of interpretation, the applicability of this approach to the wider scope of mental health care, and long and short term recommendations are discussed.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Performance Measurement, Mental Health System
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.