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The Mental Health Statistics Improvement Program is a community of people who share the belief that improvements in mental health services can occur when decision-makers--be they service providers, those who pay for services, or those who receive them--make rational decisions based on objective, reliable and comparable information about those services. When it was organized back in the 70s, members of the MHSIP community were mostly representatives of three groups: federal, state and local governments; public and private, non-profit service providers; and researchers. The MHSIP Ad Hoc Committee, now referred to as the MHSIP Ad Hoc Group, was established with representatives from these three groups to develop rules for collecting mental health data, to advise the federal government on data issues, and to develop and implement projects to improve mental health data nationwide. Since that time, membership has expanded to include recipients of mental health treatment, advocacy group representatives, and delegates from related social service providers.
HISTORY
In 1989, a report was published by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) which summarized the key ideas the MHSIP Ad Hoc Group had been shaping for several years. That report, Data Standards for Mental Health Decision Support (it is often referred to by its government document number, "FN-10"), has been the reference document for much of the public mental health data system development that has gone on since. Also in 1989, NIMH, and later the federal Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), began awarding grants to help states and treatment agencies develop mental health data systems and use the data collected in those systems.
A lot has changed since 1989 and MHSIP standards and concerns have changed as well. FN-10 focused mostly on organizations serving adult clients. Since then, the MHSIP Ad Hoc Group has prepared task force reports and other papers to address data needs for children's services, the importance of the consumer/recipient perspective, methods for constructing performance indicators, and recommendations for developing a consumer-oriented mental health report card for treatment provider organizations.
But the world is still changing and members of the MHSIP community have told the Ad Hoc Group that the latest information about mental health data standards needs to be compiled into a new document--FN-11, if you will. So, here it is, the beginnings at least. You are invited to help us write the next version.