Assessing public behavioral health services data: a mixed method analysis
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(2020) 15:85
RESEARCH
Open Access
Assessing public behavioral health services data: a mixed method analysis Sierra X. Vaughn1* , Hannah L. Maxey1, Alyson Keen2, Kelli Thoele2 and Robin Newhouse2
Abstract Background: Measuring behavioral health treatment accessibility requires timely, comprehensive and accurate data collection. Existing public sources of data have inconsistent metrics, delayed times to publication and do not measure all factors related to accessibility. This study seeks to capture this additional information and determine its importance for informing accessibility and care coordination. Methods: The 2018 National Survey for Substance Abuse and Treatment Services (N-SSATS) data were used to identify behavioral health facilities in Indiana and gather baseline information. A telephone survey was administered to facilities with questions parallel to the N-SSATS and additional questions regarding capacity and patient intake. Quantitative analysis includes chi-square tests. A standard qualitative analysis was used for theming answers to open-ended questions. Results: About 20% of behavioral health facilities responded to the study survey, and non-response bias was identified by geographic region. Among respondents, statistically significant differences were found in several questions asked in both the study survey and N-SSATS. Data gathered from the additional questions revealed many facilities to have wait times to intake longer than 2 weeks, inconsistency in intake assessment tools used, limited capacity for walk-ins and numerous requirements for engaging in treatment. Conclusion: Despite the low response rate to this study survey, results demonstrate that multiple factors not currently captured in public data sources can influence coordination of care. The questions included in this study survey could serve as a framework for routinely gathering these data and can facilitate efforts for successful coordination of care and clinical decision-making. Keywords: Substance abuse treatment centers, Health services accessibility, Public reporting of healthcare data
Introduction Monitoring the successes and challenges of accessing treatment, especially for substance use disorder (SUD), requires accurate, comprehensive and timely information that can support quality improvement efforts and effective coordination of care [1–3]. There are several public sources of data that are maintained by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) which provide information regarding SUD treatment services and patient * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Indiana University School of Medicine, 1110 West Michigan St., Suite 200, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, USA Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
utilization [4]. These public databases have varying purposes and are used for both research and clinical decision-making. These database systems are embedded in health information systems to capture patient-related information. The Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) se
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