Where Are We Going?

Here at Sound Community Services we are always evaluating the work we do and looking for ways to improve the services we offer. The Annual Consumer Satisfaction Survey is an example of a tool we use to do just that.  You can review  our most recent survey at https://sites.google.com/a/soundcommunityservices.org/care-review/Home/satisfaction-survey-1  The Annual Consumer Satisfaction Survey focuses on how those we serve perceive our services, programs and staff.  While consumer input is very valuable it is not the only tool we can use to evaluate the quality of our work.   And today I want to discuss with you an initiative that you will start hearing more about in the next few weeks and months.

Sound Community Services is one of several behavioral health agencies in Connecticut that is participating in  a Connecticut Community Providers Association (http://www.ccpa-inc.org) (CCPA) sponsored statewide Benchmarking Initiative.  CCPA is sponsoring this important initiative in collaboration with Behavioral Pathway Systems  (http://www.bpsys.org) (BPS). Through this initiative, we will receive benchmarking reports that will measure our performance in many areas of operation against that of other behavioral health agencies in Connecticut and around the country.

What is Benchmarking-   Benchmarking was a term first used by cobblers to measure people's feet for shoes. The cobbler would place someone's foot on a "bench" and mark it out to make the pattern for the shoes with the intent to provide the best possible product for the customer.  "Benchmarking" assured that the  shoe that was made fit the foot of the customer.  Today benchmarking refers to a series of “measurements” about various aspects of a business ( in our case our agency and the other agencies in the project) and the comparison of those measurements to  what are thought  to be the best practices in the field.  Benchmarking is a powerful performance management tool that can have significant value in behavioral health/human services settings as we strive to assure we provide the best possible services to our clients.   


This CCPA project is a best practice benchmarking project that will allow us to compare our agency to the other CCPA agencies  involved in the project and other similar agencies nationally.  We will learn where we do well by comparison and where there is  room for improvement.  We will then develop plans on how to make improvements or adapt specific best practices. As a result we should be able to improve the services we offer our clients.

Much work has already been done on this project .  Our work began last June when I, Emily Reynolds and Cindy Kirchhoff  participated on a statewide planning committee that worked to identify benchmarking metrics and operational definitions in several operational areas.  Once the metrics and definitions were agreed upon by the participating agencies, work began on the survey tool that would be used to collect the data.   That survey tool was completed in October.   Data collection will begin sometime in late November or December.   

The survey that many of you will be asked to complete will involve almost all aspects of the agency and most staff will complete only  the parts of the survey that relate to their jobs.  Data on the many of the following metrics have been included in the survey:

Financial Benchmarks

Current Ratio of Payer Mix

General/Administrative Expenses as a percent of Total Expenses

Days of Cash on Hand

Days in Accounts Receivable

Net Margin Percent

Cost per Person Served per Year

Cost per Unit of Service and per Person Served (By Service Area)

Bad Debt Percent

Accounts Receivable over 90 Days

Operational Benchmarks

No-Show/Cancellation, Rate (Initial, Ongoing, Medication Appointment)

Productivity (By Service Area)

Access (Days from Request to Initial Assessment)

Access (Days from Request to Psychiatric Medication Management Appointment)

Access (Days from Request to Psychiatric Evaluation)

Subsequent Access (Days from Intake to First Service Appointment)

Utilization (Residential or Inpatient Length of Stay/Outpatient Visits per Person)

Occupancy Percent

Clinical Benchmarks

Client Satisfaction

Psychiatric Hospitalization Rate

Discharge Status (By Service Area)

Manual Restraint Rate (By Service Area)

Medical Hospitalization Rate

Emergency Room Visit Rate

Suicide Rate

Involvement with Criminal Justice System

Employment Rate

Homelessness Rate

Organizational Climate Benchmarks

25 Item Organizational Climate Survey

Staffing Retention/Turnover by Role

Staffing Retention/Turnover by Tenure

Average Tenure of Staff

 

Be well!