In search of psychiatric performance measures.

The purpose of this article is to relate the experiences of a panel of industry experts and Maryland Hospital Association (MHA) staff who worked together to develop and pilot test a set of comparative performance indicators for psychiatric care. MHA's experiences with the Quality Indicator Project served to provide a sound structure for indicator development and testing. This paper explores the premise on which the indicator set was developed, the work of the expert panel, and the participation and contribution of the pilot sites.