Foundry Steamboat Outcomes

Why and How We Measure Outcomes

Simply stated, we measure outcomes to indicate treatment effectiveness and improve the quality of our care. All high-quality healthcare providers measure outcomes, from independent physicians to mental health professionals to the largest hospital systems. In fact, outcome measurement is mandatory for treatment providers like Foundry Steamboat, who are in-network with insurance plans and accredited by The Joint Commission.

Healthcare providers measure individual patient outcomes to assess clinical progress and adjust treatment plans. In addition, provider organizations use aggregated outcome data to gauge their overall effectiveness and identify opportunities for improvement, such as identifying highly effective practices, pinpointing treatment deficits, assessing individual team member performance, and highlighting opportunities to introduce helpful new therapies.

Foundry Steamboat regularly uses symptom rating scales, clinical reporting, the Recovery Capital Index, and post-treatment interviews to measure outcomes and validate its care model.Foundry Steamboat uses the PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire 9), GAD-7 (General Anxiety Disorder 7), and BAM (Brief Addiction Monitor) symptom rating scales and the Recovery Capital Index to measure client outcomes before, during, and after treatment.

Symptom rating scales are questionnaires clinicians administer throughout a client’s treatment stay to assess the presence and severity of numerous physical and mental health factors. Rating scale responses tell clinicians how clients feel over time, if they are responding to treatment and improving, or if new treatment needs arise. The Recovery Capital Index, an emerging measurement tool offering powerful long-term insights for individual providers and the behavioral healthcare field, helps the Foundry Steamboat team identify extra-therapeutic factors affecting a client’s ability to lead a recovery-supportive lifestyle.
Some items tracked by the Recovery Capital Index include the ability to work, financial status, relational health, safe and supportive housing, access to nutritious food, and other life factors foundational to maintaining health, happiness, and recovery.

Alumni communication provides crucial additional information that helps Foundry Steamboat understand long-term treatment effects. Knowing if clients are feeling happier, successfully navigating relationships, working or attending school, maintaining sobriety, attending support groups, and other information indicates if clients continue practicing taught skills and have adopted changes that promote long-term recovery.

How We Define Success Matters

Measurement can only tell us if we are moving in the right direction if we know where we’re going.

At Foundry Steamboat, we define success holistically — the ability of a person to be healthier and happier in all domains of their life, free from the symptoms for which they are treated, and no longer reliant upon the misuse of substances to feel normal and well-adjusted.

With this goal in mind, we assess all aspects of a client’s life to determine how an individualized program of psychiatry, psychotherapy, mindfulness, recreational and wellness therapies, psychoeducation, aftercare planning, and alumni services can result in an individual’s ability to thrive.

Consistently Validating Our Trauma-Integrated Care Model

The measurement approaches we use help validate and enhance our distinctive model of care.Foundry Steamboat is the home of the Trauma-Integrated Care model developed by Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Michael Barnes.

Central to this model is the idea that one’s ability to naturally self-regulate the autonomic nervous system is essential to emotional and physical well-being and the ability to maintain recovery. Foundry Steamboat teaches clients about the autonomic nervous system, how it can become dysregulated by traumatic events and other issues, and how it can lead to the development of mental health and addictive disorders. All aspects of treatment are designed to enhance perceived safety and help clients learn to naturally regulate their autonomic nervous responses to reduce the discomfort that leads people to develop substance use and mental health disorders.

Be Cautious When Interpreting Outcome Measures

Unfortunately, outcome measures can be deceiving.

Outcome measurement is a mandatory best practice for high-quality treatment providers, but there are few rules about how outcome measurement must be practiced or presented. While it is helpful to give hope to people who need help, the way some providers portray outcome statistics can create false impressions.

Beware of websites and marketing materials that use very high statistics to portray success rates without defining what those statistic represent. Sometimes, high percentages indicate the number of clients who did not use substances while receiving residential treatment — a fairly low bar when assessing a program’s ability to help people achieve long-term recovery. Statistics tell a partial story. Before selecting a treatment provider, ask for clarification about what the program measures, what their statistical data represents, and how they define success for the clients and families they serve.