The development of patient profiles for Minnesota's treatment outcomes monitoring system

Minnesota's treatment outcomes monitoring system is a cooperative effort between the State alcohol and drug abuse agency and 366 licensed treatment providers. A minimum dataset is required on all treatment admissions to provide a state-wide system profile. In addition, data are being collected on a sample of 30 patients from each program to measure patient characteristics and severity of problems, patient perceptions of needed assistance, actual nature and amount of services received, patient satisfaction and patient functioning 6 months following discharge from treatment. The dimensions measured include alcohol and other drug use, physical health, psychological well-being, employment and financial status, family and social relationships and criminality. The aggregated data will be analysed to determine what types of services are associated with more favorable outcomes for different types of patients. The findings will be used to develop standards for treatment placement and service delivery based on individual patient profiles. This report provides an overview of the plan and an illustration of how patient profiles can be developed for purposes of treatment service matching and outcomes monitoring.