SAMHSA Report Highlights Outcome Measures
By Craig Packer
SAMHSA recently submitted a report to Congress that details how
the new national outcome measures (NOMs) developed jointly by SAMHSA
and the states will create a simple, performance-based, outcome-driven
measurement system for SAMHSA's Block Grant programs.
The document is titled A
Report Required by Congress on Performance Partnerships: A Discussion
of SAMHSA's Efforts To Increase Accountability Based on Performance
in Its Block Grant Programs by Instituting National Outcome Measures.
The report describes how SAMHSA plans to work with state mental
health and substance abuse programs in managing the Community Mental
Health Services Block Grant and the Substance Abuse Prevention and
Treatment Block Grant.
A key feature in this management approach is a series of outcome
measures that focus on 10 domains (see
SAMHSA News, July/August 2005). States are responsible
for collecting their performance data and providing it to SAMHSA.
Federal and state officials will collaborate on data analysis and
performance management to improve services for people with mental
and addictive disorders.
"The NOMs are one of the first products of SAMHSA's overarching
data strategy," said Daryl Kade, SAMHSA Associate Administrator
for Policy, Planning, and Budget. "These measures reflect consensus
with our state partners. Commitment to implementing NOMs for all
states is reflected in SAMHSA's budget, the alignment of our technical
assistance activities, and the reports we generate."
Ms. Kade emphasized that both SAMHSA and the states are ready
to move forward by collecting outcome and performance data. Some
states, however, need technical assistance from SAMHSA to meet NOMs
reporting requirements.
"We're trying to match the technical assistance needs of
the states with the technical assistance resources of SAMHSA's three
Centers and the activities of the State Outcomes Measurement and
Management System (SOMMS) Central Services Center," Ms. Kade
said.
The SOMMS serves as a central data repository and supports further
technical work on standardized definitions and outcomes measures
for states. "We are working toward all states being ready to
report data by the end of Fiscal Year 2007," Ms. Kade added.
"Establishing outcome measures has not been an
easy process for either the states or SAMHSA, and nor
has the drafting of the Report to Congress," said
Winnie Mitchell, M.P.A., Team Leader in SAMHSA's Office
of Policy, Planning, and Budget (OPPB). "The process
involved in addressing Congress's requirement ‘to
develop plans for creating more flexibility for states
and accountability based on outcome and other performance
measures' (Public Health Service Act, section 1949 [300x-59])
allowed the Agency to take a hard look at what it really
wanted to do, which was to leverage the power of data
to better manage SAMHSA's Block Grants. The benefits
over the long run will be well worth the time and energy
invested in developing a clean, focused, and outcome-driven
performance measurement system."
The NOMs is a Web-based tool that uses maps and charts to describe
state substance abuse and mental health prevalence, treatment, and
funding data. It also provides substance abuse prevention data.
As new data are collected, the Web site will generate cross-year
data to help users examine program changes over time.
"The first realignment we have made within the Agency is
to reduce the data reporting to a single point within each SAMHSA
Center," said Sue Becker, M.S., a senior public health analyst
in OPPB. "We'll have consistent measures across all of our
programs, which will allow us to total up the numbers of persons
served by all SAMHSA programs and describe their health outcomes."
Ms. Becker added that the NOMs will enable SAMHSA to
assess its progress in meeting the mental health and
substance abuse needs of a diverse array of target populations.
For more information, visit SAMHSA's Web site at www.nationaloutcomemeasures.samhsa.gov. 
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