Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore: Measuring and using outcomes in behavioral health care

Health care purchasers, managed care organizations, and state and federal government have placed increasing pressure on clinicians and health care organizations to evaluate and use patient outcomes data from standard clinical practice settings. This practice, referred to as clinical outcomes management, is defined as the measurement of change in a person's clinical status over time. Outcomes management differs from outcome research in a number of critical domains, including the goal of the measurement, the domains to be assessed, the data sources and collection methods, and the ways in which these results are interpreted, explained, or predicted. This article provides a conceptualization of outcomes measurement, identifies ways in which these data are commonly used, and provides a framework by which clinicians and health care organizations can design and implement outcomes management systems.