MEASURING PROGRAM PERFORMANCE IN METHADONE TREATMENT USING IN-TREATMENT OUTCOMES - AN ILLUSTRATION

Quality measurement and quality assurance in substance abuse treatment have, over the past few years, become a major policy issue. In additi on, there is interest in the degree to which client outcomes can play a role in measuring treatment program performance. This article discus ses the movement toward outcome-based performance measurement in subst ance abuse treatment. Examples of the products that such a performance measurement system might produce are provided. Why outcomes must be c ase-mix adjusted is discussed. In addition, using data from 18 methado ne programs and more than 2,000 methadone clients from the Treatment O utcome Prospective Study, an illustration of case-mix-adjusted perform ance measurement is provided.