Transcript Collecting & Analyzing Baseline Data January 2009 Follow-up Calls (Call #2) Based on the fall 2008 CATES Training Series Contra Costa County, San.

Collecting & Analyzing Baseline Data
January 2009 Follow-up Calls (Call #2)
Based on the fall 2008 CATES Training Series
Contra Costa County, San Bernardino County, & Sutter County October
24, November 7, and November 14, 2008
Call Facilitators:
Beth Rutkowski, MPH, and Sherry Larkins, Ph.D.
UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs/
Pacific Southwest Addiction Technology Transfer Center
Agenda
1. Brief review of last month’s call
2. This months topic: Baseline data
gathering and analysis
3. Q-A period
4. Sharing of walk-through experiences
5. Open questions and comments about
process improvement
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The Walk-Through
• Decision-makers play role of clients
seeking help for a substance use
problem
• Seek services as a client might, from 1st
contact thru 3rd appointment, including
paperwork
• Follow the steps on the instruction sheet
for “Conducting a Walk-Through” at
www.NIATx.net (click the Process
Improvement button)
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Baseline Data
1. It is important to measure agency
performance before making any changes
to agency processes.
2. If you do not measure how the agency is
doing now, then there will be no way to
evaluate whether a change is making a
difference.
3. This initial gathering of data is referred to
as baseline data collection. It provides a
comparison point to help assess whether a
change you make is having the expected
impact.
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First: What to measure?
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What is important to the agency?
What goals does the agency have
related to client and business
services?
What processes would you like to
evaluate or check?
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Next: Define the measures
• Establish clear definitions
• Quantify the questions you are concerned
about
• Make sure there is agreement that the
measures will answer your questions
• NIATx initially identified four measures:
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Time from 1st contact to 1st treatment
No shows for assessment
Continuation during 1st month of care
Admissions
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Other measures to consider…
• Time from 1st contact to assessment
• Treatment continuation rates during 1st
60 days of care
• Units of service delivered
• Length of stay in residential setting
• Time for transition from 1 level of care
to the next (no. of days)
• Continuity of care (% of clients who
complete residential and enter
outpatient)
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The question you need to
answer is…
If we measure this way, will we
know how close we are coming to
meeting our goal?
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How to collect baseline data…
A. Most often the data you need is already
available or is easy to gather.
B. You may have an internal management
information system
C. California has the CALOMS data system
D. If you collect it yourself, simple paper and
pencil logs often work well and don’t take
much time.
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How long should the
baseline period be?
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Baseline data can be collected and
analyzed for periods as short as 30 days
or as long as several years
Usually 30 to 180 days provides sufficient
data to reveal trends of concern to
management.
It is often best to create a graph of the
data that summarizes the frequency or
percentage of what is being measured
over time.
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Data can be surprising
A. Assumptions may have been made that
are not based on objective information
B. Sometimes a different problem is
identified
C. The baseline numbers provide an
accurate comparison point for your
improvement efforts
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In summary, here are some TIPS
1. Never start a change project without first
collecting baseline data
2. Make sure the data you are gathering is an
accurate measure of the issue the agency
is concerned about
3. Make sure the data can be gathered
consistently and accurately during the
change process
4. The data needs to be immediately
available to the Change Leader and others
monitoring the change process
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Next Steps
February 2009 Calls
5th at 2:00pm and 13th at 11:00 am
Topic:
Establishing a Change Objective
Check out the NIATx web site at www.niatx.net
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