Using Data to Improve Quality
2011 Patient Characteristic Survey Data Now Available
The Office of Mental Health (OMH) has updated the Patient Characteristics Survey (PCS) Portal to include the 2011 survey data. The PCS is conducted every two years to collect demographic, clinical, and service-related information for each person who receives a public mental health service during a specified one-week period. All programs licensed or funded by OMH are required to complete the survey.
The 2011 PCS expands upon data provided by earlier surveys to include information about employment hours, medication and counseling for smoking cessation, Medicaid managed care coverage, and more detailed cardio-metabolic indicators. Additional expanded information includes per capita service rates by race, Hispanic ethnicity, and program category, and estimated annualized rates of service by program category, demographic group and region.
The PCS data are important for planning at the State and local levels. With the addition of the 2011 data, the PCS Portal now displays data from three survey years as well as access to historical PCS reports dating from 1999.