Steps for Implementing Measurement-Based Care: Implementation Planning Guide Development and Use in Quality Improvement

Although the benefits of measurement-based care (MBC) are widely noted, MBC remains underutilized in mental health services. In 2016, the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration began the MBC in Mental Health Initiative to implement MBC as a standard of care across VHA mental health services. Subsequently, in January 2018 The Joint Commission (TJC) revised their behavioral health care standards to require implementation of MBC. Based on key informant interviews with early adopters across VHA, we developed an MBC Implementation Planning Guide to support implementation of MBC in diverse mental health settings. In this article, we present the MBC Implementation Planning Guide, describe how it was developed, and suggest a process for its use by implementation teams within an overall quality improvement framework to support implementation of MBC consistent with local context and TJC requirements.