Patient Feedback: A Performance Improvement Study in Outpatient Addiction Treatment

Although accrediting organizations, funding sources, and other agencies require community treatment providers to monitor performance, there are no studies showing that this is an effective practice or that it helps addiction treatment patients, clinicians, or managers. This feasibility study tested whether one such strategy, feeding back performance data to clinic staff, could improve patient attendance and abstinence. Ratings by patients of their group counseling experience, plus information on patient attendance and retention, were reported to clinicians and program managers twice a month. Every month managers and clinicians met to discuss the clinic-wide reports, identify opportunities for improvement, and make plans to improve the clinic-wide ratings.