Practice Bulletin
Request for Comments from Clinical Social Workers on 2008 Quality Measures
Mirean Coleman, LICSW, CT
Senior Policy Associate
June 2007
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is in the process of developing quality measures for 2008 for Medicare providers who would like to participate in the Medicare bonus incentive payment program. As a result, CMS has contracted with Quality Insight of Pennsylvania to develop the 2008 quality measures. One of the categories for measurement is mental health. The following three mental health measures have been proposed for use by clinical social workers: (1) Patient Co-development of Treatment Plan; (2) Screening for Clinical Depression; and (3) Screening for Cognitive Impairment.
These measures are now available for public comment.
NASW is encouraging all clinical social workers to take advantage of the opportunity to participate in the development of quality measures for reimbursement in mental health as the national payment system takes the initial steps to transition from a fee-for-service to a quality reporting program.