Clinical Practice Guidelines

UMBH has adopted seven clinical practice guidelines. These guidelines have all been developed by medical specialty societies and were reviewed by board certified psychiatrists in September 2008. Guidelines adopted from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) are those for:

Major Depression Disorder in Adults (MDD) 
            Pharmacological Agents for MDD treatment  
Treatment of Patients with Panic Disorder
Treatment of Patients with Bipolar Disorder
Treatment of Patients with Substance Abuse Disorders 
Assessment and Treatment of Patients with Suicidal Behaviors
Treating Schizophrenia                             

From the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), UMBH recently adopted:

Practice Parameter for the Assessment and Treatment of Children and Adolescents With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
            
The medication list, in addition to the clinical practice guidelines comprises of the most current guideline information for MDD. Physicians are encouraged to discuss prescribed medications with their patients.  Please refer to the Guidelines for Physicians  from the American Medical Association (AMA).

Clinical practice guidelines are an aid to decision-making for clinicians and their patients for specific clinical circumstances. UMBH recognizes that patients’ decisions, not just practitioner recommendations, influence the course of treatment. Because we have adopted guidelines from recognized specialty societies that we believe represent the best recommendations for treatment, we have initiated a process to measure compliance with the guidelines.

We have selected measurable characteristics from two of the guidelines.

For Major Depressive Disorder in Adults, we measure:

1. How often patients complete at least four outpatient visits in a twelve week period. We believe this represents a minimally acceptable dose of treatment for patients with a new diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder.
2. How often practitioners prescribe “first-line” medications as identified in the clinical practice guideline.

For Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, we measure:

1. How often patients complete at least four outpatient visits in 90 days.
2. How often practitioners prescribe “first-line” medications as defined in the clinical practice guideline.