Jerry Halverson, MD, leads development of quality measures in mental health for APA

04/22/19 08:13:am

In order to improve psychiatric care across the country, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has awarded a grant to the American Psychiatric Association to help it develop measures to be used to track quality of psychiatric care being provided in the United States.

Due to his experience in this area, The APA selected Jerry Halverson, MD, chief medical officer, to serve as co-chair of the Technical Expert Panel for the Quality Measure Development Initiative for the APA.

Comprised of stakeholders and experts, the panel will develop quality measures for use by a wide range of providers including psychiatrists, social workers, and primary care providers, focusing on measurement and evidence-based care, and care experience.

An earlier Insight article provided a summary on a legal decision against United Healthcare’s behavioral health division, which highlighted how the insurance company wasn’t using clinically accepted best practices to determine coverage for mental health and substance use disorders.

In his new role on the Technical Expert Panel, Dr. Halverson will help to lead the development of quality measures for the behavioral healthcare field that will focus on measurement-based care, evidence-based care, and care experience.

Having an established method for measuring behavioral healthcare quality will lead to improved care and will be important as insurance companies begin to implement value-based payment programs.

“Quality measures are an important way to ensure that the right care is happening for all patients across treatment systems and providers,” Dr. Halverson says. “Quality measures help us follow best practices in patient care by identifying gaps that can be improved on. I’m very proud of what we do here at Rogers as far as the measurement-based care and adherence to best practices, but I also realize that not all treatment centers are like Rogers. This will encourage other treatment systems to follow best practices and will lead to better psychiatric care across the country.”