“How Are You Doing?” Is Not Going To Cut It

For many years, health plan managers have wanted a measurement that would tell whether behavioral health therapies are working. Whether a consumer is getting “better” by seeing a particular therapist. Whether the plan’s investment in behavioral health therapy was a “good value.”

A decade ago, measurement-based care (MBC)—defined as “the systematic evaluation of patient symptoms before or during each clinical encounter to inform behavioral health treatment” was more of a challenge—both logistically and financially. The standard state of affairs in behavioral health care was asking consumers “How are you doing?” The situation would be the equivalent . . .