Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1997 Jan;48(1):71-5.
doi: 10.1176/ps.48.1.71.

Evaluation of the HEDIS measure of behavioral health care quality. Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set

Affiliations

Evaluation of the HEDIS measure of behavioral health care quality. Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set

B Druss et al. Psychiatr Serv. 1997 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: The Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) is the most widely used "report card" system comparing health care plans across different dimensions of performance. HEDIS uses only one measure of the quality of behavioral health care-the rate of follow-up after hospitalization for major affective disorder. This study used data from a national Veterans Affairs database to evaluate the generalizability of the HEDIS behavioral health quality measure.

Methods: Using administrative data from a nationwide sample of 114 VA hospitals, the HEDIS (version 2.5) quality measure was compared with several related performance measures including readmission rates and outpatient follow-up rates for other psychiatric disorders and for substance use disorders. The magnitude and statistical significance of Pearson's r value for correlation between measures was calculated.

Results: The HEDIS measure was moderately correlated with 30-day follow-up after hospitalization for other psychiatric disorders and with other performance measures of outpatient care. However, it was poorly correlated with follow-up for substance use disorders, inpatient measures including readmission rates, and several other measures of quality.

Conclusions: Caution is needed in drawing conclusions about the quality of behavioral health plans based on the single measure used in HEDIS, version 2.5. Inclusion of other performance measures may be warranted.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

  • Diversity in VA settings.
    Kofoed L. Kofoed L. Psychiatr Serv. 1997 Jul;48(7):956-7. doi: 10.1176/ps.48.7.956. Psychiatr Serv. 1997. PMID: 9219311 No abstract available.

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources