by Mike Lardieri, LCSW on October 15, 2024
While all healthcare organizations are held to strict performance standards, certified community behavioral health clinics (CCBHC) face more stringent requirements than many others.
And for good reason: The multifaceted CCBHC quality measures are part of what makes the model so effective. CCBHC providers must consistently track performance data across a number of quality categories and supply this information regularly to their state and their governing organization, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Those entities then use the data to further optimize the care model and support efforts to improve outcomes.
It’s a data-driven cycle that underpins the CCBHC model’s commitment to high-quality care delivery and continuous improvement. But it’s also a complex and often challenging burden for clinics. With the right technology solutions, however, clinics can not only meet but exceed quality measure requirements and streamline data collection processes.
A Data-Backed System of Ensured Quality
The Measures Management System, which is a standardized system for developing and maintaining the quality measures used in various Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) initiatives and programs, defines quality measures are “standards for measuring the performance and improvement of population health or of health plans, providers of services, and other clinicians.” In short, they’re a standardized way of evaluating a clinic’s effectiveness across key performance indicators.
Most recently updated in July 2024, CCBHC quality measures were created to enable SAMHSA and individual clinics to complete the following:
- Evaluate the performance of specific providers, clinics, and systems
- Inform quality-improvement efforts
- Compare providers over time to derive benchmarks for success
- Assess and provide CCBHCs with quality bonus payments, a unique incentive program that encourages high-quality care delivery
CCBHC quality measures cover a number of categories related to a clinic’s success, including clinic capacity, processes, and client outcomes. The model also requires both individual clinics and their governing states to collect various kinds of quality measurement data.
States, for example, gather administrative insights and data related to specific required measurements for each CCBHC within their area, like the number of follow-up visits mental health clients have after hospitalization or the rate of pharmacotherapy for opioid use disorder at each clinic. CCBHCs, on the other hand, are required to calculate and submit medical records data such as depression remission rates, high blood pressure rates, and health-related social needs (HRSN).
This complex quality measurement and data collection system supports continuous improvement of the CCBHC model itself. But successful client care and optimization depends on the effectiveness of each clinic’s data-collection infrastructure.
How to Meet Quality Reporting Requirements
Meeting CCBHC quality measures standards and gathering and reporting data on performance success doesn't need to be complicated.
Here’s how an advanced electronic health record (EHR) can help.
Provide Measurement-Based Care
Evidence-based practices and strong, streamlined workflows are the foundations of high-quality care delivery in the CCBHC model, enabling providers to consistently meet required quality measures.
With the right technological infrastructure, providers can create effective operational systems that help ensure clients receive the best care possible. Core Solutions’ Core Clinician Assist: Symptom Tracking tool, for example, helps providers assess clients’ needs and then monitor and measure the impact of treatment plans.
Loaded with diagnostic criteria from the 10th edition of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), the solution reviews clinician’s notes to identify symptoms and trends and connect those to ICD-10 diagnoses. With Core Clinician Assist: Symptom Tracking, CCBHC providers can target treatment plans to individual client needs and access visualizations that aid in tracking outcomes over time.
Core Solutions’ Cx360 EHR also helps providers apply effective evidence-based practices for optimal care. The platform offers embedded evidence-based practice workflows that empower providers to quickly access interactive checklists and real-time guidance. The platform’s proprietary workflow engine better ensures nothing ever falls through the cracks. Staff and providers can create bespoke filters that pinpoint exactly where each client is within the care continuum, enabling everyone involved in a client’s treatment plan to stay on top of client progress.
Collect the Right Data at the Right Time
Offering high-quality care is just the first step to meeting quality measures in the CCBHC model. Where many facilities may need even more technical assistance is in the ongoing documentation and reporting of that care delivery work to meet SAMHSA’s requirements.
Quality reporting is only as good as the accuracy and timeliness of the data collected. With defined time frames and filters, the Cx360 platform helps minimize errors and optimize practice metrics. CCBHCs can use the platform to create custom rules that align with CCBHC data requirements, access intuitive data visualizations, and collect the right data without time-consuming and error-prone manual work.
Solutions like Core Clinician Assist: Documentation also take much of the collection and reporting burden off of providers. With this solution, providers can record spoken client sessions and then access summarized documents. The solution not only makes data reporting a far quicker and more accurate process, but it also improves care delivery by using natural language processing to scan notes for clients’ behavioral health needs.
Whereas Core Clinician Assist: Documentation targets individual clients’ data, Core Clinician Assist: HRSN Tracking aids in large-scale data collection and assessment. By employing this solution, providers can efficiently identify HRSN across massive population-based datasets, aiding in both individualized care and demographic-centered
A Comprehensive Solution for CCBHC Success
It’s clear that CCBHCs are driving the future of behavioral healthcare, and the quality measures at the heart of the model are evolving — and saving — lives in the process.
If we want CCBHCs to succeed in the modern healthcare landscape, clinics’ technological systems must keep pace with provider and client needs, including those concerning quality measures and reporting. A robust solution like the Cx360 EHR offers comprehensive solutions tailored specifically for the behavioral healthcare space. With this platform, clinics can capture the right CCBHC quality measurement data, deliver the right evidence-based practices, and meet client needs in the right ways at the right times.
Need a solution for meeting required quality measures in your CCBHC? Request your demo of the Cx360 platform today.
