Getting to the Root of Two Popular Behavioral Health Ideas
What’s behind the rising popularity of measurement-informed care and peer support in behavioral health?


We discuss what these changes involve and why they matter.
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About The Guest
As NCQA Assistant Vice President for Behavioral Health, Julie Seibert leads NCQA’s efforts to advance the quality of behavioral health care. She conducts research on behavioral health measurement approaches and methods to evaluate behavioral health access, quality and outcomes. Her more than 30 years of experience in research, policy and program development has focused on evaluating system performance and consumer outcomes, for both physical and behavioral health.
Episode Description
In this episode of Quality Matters, Julie Seibert, Assistant Vice President of Behavioral Health at NCQA, joins host Andy Reynolds to explore the rise of—and the relationship between—two trends in behavioral health: measurement-informed care and peer support. Julie breaks down how these strategies improve outcomes, engage patients and close gaps in access and accountability.
Listen to this episode to discover:
- How Measurement-Informed Care Engages Patients: Learn how measurement-informed care supports patient engagement and treatment adjustments in behavioral health. We explore the importance of ongoing assessment, tracking symptoms and outcomes and empowering patients to understand their journey.
- Friction and Fuel for New Approaches: We unpack historical challenges to measurement-informed care. These include the omission of behavioral health from key legislation and the costs of EHR integration. We also discuss how NCQA depression measures and person-centered outcome measures relate to measurement-informed care.
- Benefitting From Peers’ Lived Experience: We discuss how people who have been through mental health or substance use treatment can provide non-clinical support to help others navigate the system, subvert stigma and fill care gaps.
This discussion is a valuable resource for providers, policy leaders and others who care about improving access, engagement and outcomes in behavioral health.
Traditionally, these are trained clinicians. And in the course of a session with a patient, probably in the back of their mind, they’re evaluating whether an individual is improving or has worsening function.
Payers would like some numerical or standardized way of seeing the clinician’s clinical judgment. Measurement-informed care offers that.
Timestamps
(03:04) Who’s Behind Measurement-Informed Care
(05:08) HEDIS and Measurement-Informed Care
(08:13) Person-Centered Outcome Measures in Behavioral Health
(09:58) The Power of Peer Support Specialists
(11:57) Addressing Workforce Shortages
(15:37) Why States Support Peer Support
(16:32) Peer Support’s Connection to Measurement-Informed Care