THE DEVELOPMENT OF A STATEWIDE CONTINUOUS EVALUATION SYSTEM FOR THE TEXAS-CHILDRENS-MENTAL-HEALTH PLAN - A TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT APPROACH

The article presents a description of processes involved in developing and implementing a statewide continuous evaluation system for the Tex as Children's Mental Health Plan (TCMHP) and quality management toots used to approach implementation challenges. Implementation issues are discussed relating to stakeholder involvement, evaluation design evolu tion, measurement method modification, evaluation integration, staff t raining, data quality control communication of results, and use of res ults in decision making. A review of implementation processes suggests evaluation design and activities should be seen as constantly evolvin g in response to ongoing stakeholder input. involving stakeholders in design and implementation can result it I increased data quality, data -informed decision making to improve service delivery, and increased p ublic accountability. The TCMHP evaluation system development demonstr ates that quality management toot can provide a useful framework to wo rk through design and implementation problems, and a continuous evalua tion system can provide an infrastructure for meeting data needs in a managed care environment.