Using Patient Flow Analysis to Streamline Intakes at a Community Mental Health Clinic

This case study reports on a quality improvement strategy used by a community mental health clinic (CMHC) to improve the intake process at the clinic. Patient Flow Analysis (PFA) was used to assess outpatient intakes, identify possible areas of improvement, and test an intervention to improve the intake process. At baseline, the mean time to complete intakes for 22 clients was 106.9 min. Using these data, an intervention was designed to reduce the mean intake time, with a target time of 90 min. Post-intervention data revealed that the mean time to complete intakes decreased to 94.5 min for 28 clients. Patient Flow Analysis is a cost-effective way to assess current processes and identify areas of improvement in the intake flow at CMHCs. The present study used PFA in a CMHC to improve the intake process and saw favorable results from this quality improvement initiative.