The Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation Services is applying to the National Institute of Mental Health for funds to assist the Department in its effort to improve and enhance its State-level data recording, reporting, and analysis capacity with respect to community mental health services. This enhancement will be based on the standards of the NIMH Mental Health Statistics Improvement Project (MHSIP) and is intended to increase the entire system's capacity to plan, develop, monitor, evaluate, and research Kentucky's system of mental health care for persons with mental illnesses. More specifically, the project is designed to establish a State-level uniform, integrated, and computerized data base consisting of client characteristics, types, amounts, cost of services (event data), and client outcomes. An additional purpose is to increase departmental capacity to develop and use integrated management reports to support management decisionmaking. This project will (1) support a data system advisory group; (2) provide analysis and implementation of State level data based on NIMH MHSIP standards; (3) support consultation on the implementation of the system with Kentucky's community mental health centers; (4) contribute to the costs of needed software and hardware; and (5) provide staff support to achieve the project's objectives.
