What reports do you require when purchasing a mental health clinic system?

Each system offers “comprehensive reports” and “analytical dashboards,” and each center ends up using a maximum of three reports. The difference between a useful system and one crowded with screens is that you know what you want to measure before you see what is presented to you.

The operational situation addressed by the topic

A center manager opens the reporting panel and finds twenty indicators, most of which he does not know what to do with. The result is that he stops opening them after a month, and goes back to verbally asking the receptionist what he wants to know.

The requirements you write for the resource

Write a table with three columns: the report, the management question it answers, and who will use it and when. Do not request any report whose second column you cannot fill out.

These are questions that usually deserve reports:

• Is our specialists’ time used efficiently? ← Occupancy report.
• How many appointments do we lose? → Report cancellations, no-shows and filled vacancies.
• Who do we serve and who have we stopped serving? ← Active cases, without an upcoming date, and closed cases with their results.
• Is our documentation consistent? ← Late documentation and review report.
• Are our programs effective? ← Evaluation results with the number of people who completed the two measurements.
• What is our financial situation? → Collector, investigator, arrears and unconsumed balances.
• Where do our clients come from? ← Referral sources and conversion rates.

A practical example of testing the procedure

• Request in the offer the three reports you specified, not the ones offered by the provider.
• Request to be nominated by period, service, specialist and branch.
• Request to export: In what format? Is export an independent authority?
• Ask: Is it possible to schedule a report to be sent periodically to those who need it?
• Ask: Is it possible to build a new report ourselves or does the provider need it?

Controls and exceptions

• The report has no owner and is not read: Assign each report a review person and periodicity.
• No professional content in management reports: Grouped indicators and worklists, no session notes.
• Start with three: Expand after you prove that you actually use it.
• The directing number does not rule: , especially when it concerns a specific specialist.

Next step for system review

Fill out the report table, question and owner and submit it with your requirements. See Reports and indicators page.