Applying Utilization Review Procedures in a Community Mental Health Center
William E. Block Ph.D.1
1 Director, Research and Evaluation Rockland County Community Mental Health Center Pomona, New York; Rockland center from September 1971 to June 1974. The center's mailing address is Pomona, New York 10970
A large, multiservice community mental health center operates a utilization review program based on a three-level system of chart review by medical records personnel, a utilization review technician, and a committee of clinicians. Review Is facilitated by a checklist for use in rating such issues as comprehensiveness, coordination, and quality of care against standards of care developed by the director of each service. The Incompleteness of charts pulled for review Is a continuing problem. But the system makes for efficient review and has various secondary benefits, such as the improvement of medical records. A survey made In the first year showed that staff had mixed feelings about the need for review, but that 60 per cent thought it was helpful all or most of time.
