The Time has Come to Improve the Quality of Pediatric Behavioral Health Care

In pursuit of improved health outcomes, health services researchers have long sought to monitor quality of care and drive continuous improvements in the health care system.^1-4 As defined by Donabedian in 1966, quality of care may be thought of as "a reflection of values and goals current in the medical care system and in the larger society of which it is a part."¹ Although pediatric behavioral health (PBH; ie, psychiatry, psychology, behavioral pediatrics, developmental pediatrics, addiction) quality improvement has advanced considerably in the past few decades,^1-4 the PBH field lags far behind other specialties in terms of large-scale, coordinated efforts to monitor and improve quality of care. For example, US News and World Report (USNWR) has published indices of hospital quality for more than 30 years, but only collected PBH data for the first time in 2023.