Data Doesn't Equal Outcomes

Evidence based rating scales are an excellent ways to monitor progress - but what happens when two clinicians are reporting vastly different scores?Dan Warner from the Data Community Roundtable joins to Data Doesn't Equal Outcomes to talk about scoring alignment corrections on a CANS implementation.

Instead of planning services in search of an outcome - GRAND Mental Health is determining the outcome they want, and then doing whatever it takes to get it.It's called Outcome Based Treatment planning.Listen to guests Larry Smith, CEO, and Josh Cantwell, COO - talk about a new approach to treatment planning that makes it a living, breathing, active exercise that is better for clients and easier on clinicians. 

They gave iPads to law enforcement.  Then they gave them to clients.  An entrepreneurial investment turned into a major success and model CCBHC program when GRAND Mental Health put technology in everyone's hands.Listen to guests Larry Smith, CEO, and Josh Cantwell, COO - talked about the evolution and results of their technology backed crisis response system. 

The anticipation of the 1115 Medicaid Waiver in New York State has got us thinking about what the data needs will be around Social Care.  In this first of two parts, guests Nikki Kmicinski of the WNY Integrated Care Collaborative & Scott Emery of MS Hall & Associates discuss the current gaps in Social Care data collection, and how providers will need to use data to optimize service delivery in a new funding system.*Episode was recorded on Sept 1, 2023 with the public information that was available at that time.

The anticipation of the 1115 Medicaid Waiver in New York State has got us thinking about what the data needs will be around Social Care.  In this first of two parts, guests Nikki Kmicinski of the WNY Integrated Care Collaborative & Scott Emery of MS Hall & Associates discuss what the statewide data landscape may look like - and apply their expertise to how we will know if the waiver was successful.*Episode was recorded on Sept 1, 2023 with the public information that was available at that time.

Logic models are one of those things that are often done, but rarely used.  Shannon Wichlacz, PhD, is here to tell us that if you build them well - they will get used more often.  This episode dives deep into the logic model as more than an exercise in documentation, but rather a living breathing guide for your program that can bring life to your measures and evaluations plans to guide effective service delivery. 

For human services agencies Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement are entirely different activities with entirely different objectives.  In this episode of Data Doesn't Equal Outcomes, Christa Foschio-Bebak explains how to separate them, and how to identify if your agency is missing the improvement part.

In a very impactful episode, guest Christa Foschio-Bebak (Director of Quality Improvement at CCNY) and Catie Gavin (First Deputy Commissioner of Erie County DSS) talk about how Erie County, NY is putting data into action in the High Fidelity Wraparound program.Everything from Data Coaching to driving outcomes on the 3 main tenets of child welfare - this episode is a case study on how to turn data into actionable and continuous improvement.

Season 2 of the "Data Doesn't Equal Outcomes" podcast starts with a bang.  Join host Tristan Keelan and his guest - Natalia Rachel - who discusses how thinking about quality of care strategies lead to an improvement in early client retention.  Natalia is a trauma informed practitioner, speaker, and author of the book "Why Am I Like This?" - which is available now!

Data is critical in Diversity Equity and Inclusion work within an organization - but you can't ethical push on levers in quite the same way as many other metrics for improvement.Guest host Ernesto Mercado Irizarry is joined by Natalia Rice and Ekua Mends-Aidoo for this critical conversation about how you can and can't use data to inform your DEI work.This episode was recorded on *April 1, 2022

In this episode of Data Doesn't Equal Outcomes podcast, host Tristan Keelan is joined by Janet Romero and Jeff Sherwood from Step by Step Inc. to discuss how they used quality improvement methodology to implement Trauma Informed practices into the agency.Step By Step, Inc. today provides employment, vocational, residential, autism and counseling services to over 2,000 individuals in four regions across more than a dozen Pennsylvania counties. Throughout its history, Step By Step, Inc. has maintained a progressive view of the potential of individuals with disabilities.

Dr. Patricia Nellius-Guthrie, Executive Vice President and Chief Knowledge and Innovation Officer at the Florida Coalition for Children, joins Heidi Milch and Ann Boughtin from CCNY on the Data Doesn't Equal Outcomes podcast to discuss the intersection of COVID and the Family First Prevention Services Act - the single largest restructuring of child welfare funding in history.

Brandie Williams from the Rappahannock Area CSB in Virginia joins the Data Doesn't Equal Outcomes Podcast to discuss the process of pivoting to telehealth, and how the role of quality improvement shifted to what is important "today," during the COVID transition, as well as QI stories about reducing emergency room visits.

Director of Quality at Southside CHS joins the Data Doesn't Equal Outcomes podcast to discuss the Federally Qualified Health Center's (FQHC) "We Always" approach to Quality Improvement and how that lead to a project that increased cancer screenings by 23%

Gilbert Eijkelenboom, author of People Skills for Analytical Thinkers and founder of MindSpeaking joins the Data Doesn't Equal Outcomes to discuss the important of the "soft skills" in delivering reports to those less experienced with data.

There are so many social and environmental factors that contribute to an individual's overall health.  Director of Evaluation and Analytics David Monroe, and Data Analyst Mohammad Haque discuss the current availability of SDOH data and how behavioral health and social services providers can leverage that data into better strategies for better outcomes.

Any evaluation should be useful, if it's not, it shouldn't have been done.Listen to Brandi Collins from CCNY as she talks about what it takes to make sure evaluation and analytics projects get used.  She explains the importance of planning and communication to ensure that you project doesn't create yet another dashboard graveyard.

Trauma Informed practices are so important in Human Services Agencies, and Data and Quality Improvement is no exception.  In this episode Tristan and guest Katie Miller, LMHC, Senior Coordinator of Clinical Service at CCNY, discuss the importance of recognizing the likely trama's that clinical staff are enduring on a daily basis before being asked to participate in data and QI projects.They also discuss how QI staff can approach clinical staff in ways that respect the position of data within an agency, and eliminate the fear associated with data and reports.

The Data Doesn't Equal Outcomes kicks off with guest Kim Herrington, founder of #BuffaloBusinessIntelligence and winner of the 2021 InfoTech WNY BETA Awards for Good Neighbor category.Kim talks about how to get to data through her own children's book "The Royal Requirements," in a relatable discussion for Human Services Agencies looking to create data inputs and subsequence reports.