KPIs for Australian Public Mental Health Services: PI 06J – Average treatment days per three-month community care period, 2016
Indicator Attributes
Identifying and definitional attributes | |
Metadata item type: | Indicator |
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Indicator type: | Indicator |
Short name: | MHS PI 06J: Average treatment days per three-month community care period, 2016 |
METEOR identifier: | 630375 |
Registration status: | Health, Superseded 14/06/2017 |
Description: | Average number of community treatment days per three-month period of ambulatory care provided by state/territory specialised community (also known as ambulatory) mental health service unit(s). Note: This specification has been adapted from the indicator MHS PI 06: Average treatment days per three-month community care period, 2015 (Service level version) using terminology consistent with the National Health Data Dictionary. There are no technical differences in the calculation methodologies between the Service level version and the Jurisdictional level version of this indicator. |
Rationale: | The purpose of this indicator is to better understand underlying factors which cause variation in community mental health care costs. The number of treatment days is the community counterpart of admitted patient length of stay and it indicates the relative volume of care provided to people in ambulatory care. Frequency of service provision is the main driver of variation in community care costs and may reflect differences between health service organisation practices. Inclusion of this indicator promotes a fuller understanding of community care costs as well as providing a basis for utilisation review. For example, it allows the frequency of servicing of particular consumer groups in the community to be assessed against any clinical protocols developed for those groups. This indicator may also demonstrate degrees of accessibility to public sector community mental health services. |
Indicator set: |
Collection and usage attributes | |
Computation description: | Coverage/Scope: State/territory specialised community mental health service unit(s) in scope for reporting as defined by the Community Mental Health Care National Minimum Data Set (NMDS). The following activity of community mental health care services are excluded:
Methodology:
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Computation: | Numerator ÷ Denominator |
Numerator: | Number of community mental health care treatment days provided by state/territory ambulatory mental health services within the reference period. |
Numerator data elements: | |
Denominator: | Number of community mental health care statistical episodes provided by state/territory ambulatory mental health services within the reference period. |
Denominator data elements: | |
Disaggregation: | Service variables: Target population |
Disaggregation data elements: | |
Representational attributes | |
Representation class: | Mean (average) |
Data type: | Real |
Unit of measure: | Time (e.g. days, hours) |
Indicator conceptual framework | |
Framework and dimensions: | Efficient Appropriate |
Accountability attributes | |
Reporting requirements: | Australian Institute of Health and Welfare |
Organisation responsible for providing data: | Australian Institute of Health and Welfare |
Accountability: | Australian Institute of Health and Welfare |
Benchmark: | State/territory level |
Further data development / collection required: | Methodology to collect multifaceted levels of service usage, such as intensity and complexity issues and the impact on contact duration, is needed in order to improve cost modelling and efficiency measurement in general. Accurate reporting at levels above that of mental health service organisation requires unique state-wide patient identifiers that are not currently available in all jurisdictions. The indicator can be accurately constructed using the Community Mental Health Care NMDS. |
Other issues caveats: | Casemix adjustment is needed to interpret variation between organisations to distinguish consumer and provider factors. Longer term a methodology for casemix adjustment is required. Further development of national funding models, including episode-based or casemix models, will enable more meaningful measurement than the arbitrary three-month period used in this indicator. |
Source and reference attributes | |
Submitting organisation: | Australian Institute of Health and Welfare |
Reference documents: | National Mental Health Performance Subcommittee 2013. Key Performance Indicators for Australian Public Mental Health Services 3rd edn. Canberra. NMHPC. |
Relational attributes | |
Related metadata references: | Supersedes KPIs for Australian Public Mental Health Services: PI 06J – Average treatment days per three-month community care period, 2015 Health, Superseded 11/05/2016 Has been superseded by KPIs for Australian Public Mental Health Services: PI 06J – Average treatment days per three-month community care period, 2017 Health, Superseded 13/01/2021 |