A unique approach to performance standards for clinicians in a CMHC

Performance standards were developed for clinicians of a large comprehensive mental health center. Clinicians were required to provide a minimum average of 20 hours of face-to-face service per week. Credit values, ranging from .5 to 3.0, were assigned for each hour of service provided based on the difficulty of the service to deliver and the amount of paperwork required. Total credits were considered as an extra accomplishment and utilized as a criterion for determining merit increases. The results indicated an increase in the utilization of family and group therapy as well as a more equitable system for evaluating widely differing services.