Monday, June 06, 2005

New Performance Measure and Management Tool Available Online SAMHSA press release - "The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) today announced the online availability of SAMHSA’s National Outcome Measures (NOMS) – a data resource to help federal and state substance abuse and mental health managers facilitate evidence-based decision making and ultimately improve services in the communities they serve. 'This new web-based tool is the very beginning of a data reporting system that ultimately will provide a comprehensive state-by-state picture of mental health and substance abuse service system results,' said SAMHSA Administrator Charles Curie. 'This is a powerful new tool that we can use to improve the management and performance of our programs and make the most of the limited dollars available to help people attain and sustain recovery.' Using maps and charts, the database will describe states’ substance abuse and mental health prevalence, treatment and funding data. It will also provide substance abuse prevention data. As new data are collected, the website will also present cross-year data to help users examine program changes over time." See also the NOMs web site.