ALERTSM Annual Report
January 2001
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Published: October, 2001
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History and Overview
ALERT (ALgorithms for Effective Reporting
and Treatment) is an outcomes management system, first
developed by PacifiCare Behavioral Health (PBH) in 1998, now
successfully implemented within employer-based and public
sector delivery systems. ALERT is unique because it:
- analyzes change based on member self-report and assessment
in combination with practitioner-reported data.
- monitors data during a treatment episode rather
than merely measuring outcomes before and after treatment.
- makes real-time information available for clinicians to
help them develop better- informed treatment planning decisions.
- compares actual change from session-to-session against
expected change.
At the core of the ALERT program are two outcome assessment
tools developed exclusively for PBH by Michael Lambert, Ph.D.
and Gary Burlingame, Ph.D. of Brigham Young University. They
conducted an item analysis of the original 45 questions of
the OQ-45 and 65 questions of the YOQ, and created two new
30-item instruments, the Life Status Questionnaire (LSQ) and
Youth Life Status Questionnaire (YLSQ). Drs. Lambert and Burlingame
also continue to consult with PBH on report development and
data analyses to continually refine the program.
The primary consultant working with PBH since the inception
of ALERT is Jeb Brown, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Clinical
Informatics. He has taken the lead in developing the clinical
algorithms and reports that are at the core of the system,
and he conducted the original data analysis for this annual
report. Dr. Brown works closely with Drs. Lambert and Burlingame,
and they have consulted in the development of the procedures
and statistical methods utilized in this report.
The ALERT program was developed in the second half of 1998
and first implemented in February 1999 with three PBH Preferred
Group Practices (PGPs) in California. By April 1999, the program
was implemented with all PGPs in California and New Mexico.
In July 1999, the YLSQ was implemented with all PGPs, and
in addition, the program was implemented with approximately
100 of the highest volume individual practitioners. In March
2000 the program was implemented with all practitioners in
California. Finally, the program was implemented in Q4 2000
with members in all PBH markets being managed in the Extended
Care Management (ECM) and Assertive Care Management (ACM)
models. Section One The ALERT program is also operational
in Oregon with the five-county ABHA Medicaid population. The
LSQ and YLSQ have been in place since November 1999 with the
five ABHA county clinics and with the network of contracted
practitioners used by three of the counties. In general, the
ABHA population of 23,000 members enter treatment with more
severe behavioral health problems, and a separate analysis
of their outcomes will be completed and distributed.
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