“To review multi-system (OCYS, MH/ID, D&A, and JPO) high-risk residential placement and discharge planning.”

The focus of this committee is to compare best practice treatment planning and discharge planning as well as communications between stakeholders.   Results of surveys to children/adolescents/families and chart reviews will guide the work of this team.

The team obtained a list of 142 clients involved in multi-systems (involvement in at least 2 of the following offices OCYS, ID, MH, D&A, JPO, SPORE) who were placed in high-risk residential settings.   The list also identified clients who had inpatient care during the residential stay, and clients who were readmitted to other residential placements.   The list included placements during the time period of January 2005 to the present, including those clients who have been discharged.

PIT Team 2 developed a survey to send to providers, consumers and families to identify satisfaction, utilization of resources, barriers and gaps in the system.   The same survey will be sent to 20% of treatment team members involved in cases which were multi-system and resulted in high-risk residential placements.

Client charts will be reviewed and treatment and discharge plans will be evaluated for each client. The team will document involvement of family members, referrals and links to appropriate aftercare resources or lack thereof, such as community based supports, type of classroom setting, RCM, ICM, SPORE, natural supports, ancillary resources and other supportive resources for families.   The team will utilize the “Treatment Planning and Discharge Best Practice Comparison” tool when compiling this information.   20% of clients were randomly selected (or at least 24 clients) as the team’s targeted population for chart reviews.

The team researched, identified and recorded best practice for discharge planning for high-risk children in residential placement settings. This information will be used as the Discharge Planning Tool. This plan will be compared to the treatment and discharge plans obtained from residential placements in this study.  Two lists will be compiled; clients whose treatment and discharge plans included mental health aftercare and school programming, and those whose treatment and discharge plans did not include MH aftercare, school programming, or other supportive resources for families.   These two lists will then be compared for identification of successful outcomes.

The success of each member will then be determined by the length of time spent out of acute care hospitalization compared to previous history; participation and compliance with treatment compared to previous history; and compliance with probation orders or lack of re-involvement in criminal activities, detention, or probation compared to previous history.

PIT Team 2 will evaluate results of the discharge planning process.   Based upon the results, the team will develop a process for effective discharge planning for children who are returning to the community from an out-of-home mental health placement.   This expectation and process will be shared with the provider network and put into best practice.

PIT Team 2 meets the 3rd Tuesday of the month from 1:00-2:30 PM at the Lehigh County Government Center, 17 South 7th Street in Allentown.

If you are interested in sharing your experiences in order to help Lehigh County better provide better services to children and families, or would like to learn more, please call Pat Theodore at (610) 871-1986.