Provider Attitudes and Experience With Measurement-Based Mental Health Care in the VA Implementation Project

Objective: Measurement-based care using patient-reported outcome measures has been shown to improve treatment outcomes for patients with mental illness. Despite wide availability of validated measures, measurement-based care is seldom used in clinical practice. Methods: The authors conducted a survey of 230 mental health providers across 47 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers. The survey measured provider attitudes and self-reported use of various components of measurement-based care. Results: More than half of the providers (58%) reported collecting at least one measure for at least half of their patients. Psychiatrists reported using and sharing results less frequently than social workers, nurses, or psychologists. Psychologists reported the most use and sharing of patient-reported measures. Conclusions: In this convenience sample of providers, use of measurement-based care was reported to be common and attitudes about the utility of such care were positive. However, professional differences in the use of measurement-based care must be addressed to expand its use.