Design of a Payment Support Tool
Publication & project summaries
Design of a Payment Decision–Support Tool for Coordinated Specialty Care for Early Psychosis
View PDF version | Read the full study
Amplify OnTrackNY publication summaries summarize peer-reviewed publications focused on quality improvement or research conducted to help us learn & improve the program.
Study snapshot
Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) services like OnTrackNY offer evidence-based treatment to young people experiencing psychosis and support them to achieve their life goals. Current funding for CSC services are limited and unsustainable. The study team developed an interactive tool to help CSC programs and those who fund them figure out the best way to pay for services in a way that meets local need.1
This study asks:
- How can CSC programs and those who fund them (such as insurance plans) work together to make sure CSC services are covered by insurance?
- How can payment be structured in a way that allows programs nationwide to provide CSC services proven to improve patient outcomes?
- How can this payment framework be designed to meet the preferences and circumstances of different programs and communities?
What data were used for this study?
This project used data from OnTrackNY program sites.
Study findings
Finding 1. This study developed a payment model that covers CSC services delivered by a team.
Finding 2. This tool allows users to customize payment design in two ways:
- Choose the types of CSC services covered by the payment
- Choose whether to add a payment component based on patient outcomes
Finding 3. The authors have developed a decision support tool based on this conceptual study. Watch the video that describes the tool in detail.
Final thoughts
Challenges with funding make it harder to expand the availability of CSC services more broadly. The authors of the current study created a tool to design payment for CSC services in a way that is transparent and flexible. It is possible that this tool can be used in the future to make other types of behavioral healthcare more accessible.
References
1. Bao Y, Li Y, Jeng PJ, Scodes J, Papp MA, Humensky JL, Wall M, Lee R, Ancker JS, Pincus HA, Smith TE, Dixon LB. Design of a Payment Decision-Support Tool for Coordinated Specialty Care for Early Psychosis. Psychiatr Serv. 2021 Feb 1;72(2):180-185. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.202000129. Epub 2020 Dec 3. PMID: 33267653.
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