Barbara Dickey on outcomes measurement, continuous quality improvement, and performance indicators. Interview by...

Barbara Dickey, PhD, is director of the mental health services research department at McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA, and associate professor of psychology in the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Her research interests have focused on managed care and its effect on cost, outcomes, and quality. Related to these research interests is her work at McLean Hospital to use data-driven activities to improve the quality of patient care. Outcomes measurement, continuous quality improvement (CQI), and the use of performance indicators in the facility's widely distributed report cards, McLean Reports, are all supported by her department. She received the Partners in Excellence Award in 1996 from the Partners Health Care System, Inc., and has served on many ad hoc committees for the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, and the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR). Dr. Dickey is coeditor of Outcomes Assessment in Clinical Practice (1996) and the forthcoming book, Achieving Quality in Psychiatric and Substance Abuse Practice: Concepts and Case Reports.