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KPIs for Australian Public Mental Health Services: PI 09 – Mental health new client index, 2020– (Service level)

Indicator Attributes

Identifying and definitional attributes

Metadata item type:Help on this termIndicator
Indicator type:Help on this termIndicator
Short name:Help on this termMHS PI 09: Mental health new client index, 2020– (Service level)
METEOR identifier:Help on this term725519
Registration status:Help on this term
  • Health, Standard 13/01/2021
Description:Help on this term

The percentage of new clients under the care of the mental health service organisation’s mental health services.

NOTE: This indicator is related to Mental health new client index (Jurisdictional level). There are no technical differences in the calculation methodologies between the Service level version and the Jurisdictional level version of this indicator.

Rationale:Help on this term

Access to services by persons requiring care is a key issue and there is concern that the public mental health service system is inadequately responding to new people requiring care. There is concern that public sector mental health services invest a disproportionate level of resources in dealing with existing clients and too little in responding to the needs of new clients as they present.

Existing population treatment rates are relatively low.

Indicator set:Help on this term

Key Performance Indicators for Australian Public Mental Health Services (Service level version) (2020–)
Health, Standard 13/01/2021

Collection and usage attributes

Computation description:Help on this term

Coverage/Scope:

All public mental health service organisations.

Methodology:

  • Tracking a client’s service use back from the date of first contact in the reference period should be calculated as the five years preceding the date of first contact rather than on a calendar or financial year basis.
  • Client counts should be unique at the organisation level.
Computation:Help on this term

(Numerator ÷ Denominator) x 100

Numerator:Help on this term

Number of new clients who received services from the mental health service organisation’s specialised mental health services within the reference period.

Numerator data elements:Help on this term
Data Element / Data Set

Guide for useHelp on this term

A new consumer is defined as a consumer who has not been seen in the five years preceding the first contact with the mental health service organisation in the reference period (inpatient, residential or community).

Denominator:Help on this term

Number of consumers who received services from the mental health service organisation’s specialised mental health services within the reference period.

Disaggregation:Help on this term

Service variables: setting

Consumer attributes: age, Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA), remoteness, Indigenous status

Representational attributes

Representation class:Help on this termPercentage
Data type:Help on this termReal
Unit of measure:Help on this termPerson
Format:Help on this term

N[NN].N

Indicator conceptual framework

Framework and dimensions:Help on this termAccessibility

Accountability attributes

Benchmark:Help on this term

Levels at which the indicator can be useful for benchmarking:

  • mental health service organisation
  • regional group of services
  • state/territory.
Further data development / collection required:Help on this term

This indicator cannot be accurately constructed using mental health National Minimum Data Sets because they do not include unique patient identifiers that allow links across data sets and financial reporting years.

There is no proxy solution available. Construction of this indicator at a national level requires separate indicator data to be provided individually by states and territories.

Development of state-wide unique patient identifiers within all mental health NMDSs is needed to improve this capacity.

Other issues caveats:Help on this term
  • This indicator presents complexities at the analysis stage. For example, there are several approaches to defining ‘new client’ that depend on how the following issues are resolved:
    * Level of the mental health system at which ‘newness’ is defined: Consumers new to a particular organisation may be existing consumers of other organisations. Counts of new consumers at the state/territory level would certainly yield lower estimates than those derived from organisation-level counts.
    * Diagnosis criteria for defining ‘newness’: A consumer may present with a new condition, although they have received previous treatment for a different condition.
  • To date, the approach has been to specify an initial measure for implementation with a view to further refinement following detailed work to address the complexities associated with the definition of a new client and the possible implementation of unique state-wide patient identifiers within all jurisdictions.
  • This work does not take into account the activities of private mental health services, primary mental health care or the specialist private mental health sector.

Source and reference attributes

Submitting organisation:Help on this term

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare on behalf of the National Mental Health Performance Subcommittee

Reference documents:Help on this term

National Mental Health Performance Subcommittee (NMHPSC) 2013. Key Performance Indicators for Australian Public Mental Health Services, 3rd edn. Canberra: NMHPSC.

Relational attributes

Related metadata references:Help on this term
Supersedes KPIs for Australian Public Mental Health Services: PI 09 – Mental health New client index, 2019 (Service level)
  • Health, Superseded 16/02/2021
Has been superseded by KPIs for Australian Public Mental Health Services: PI 09 – Mental health new client index, 2021– (Service level)
  • Health, Standard 17/12/2021
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