Mental health quality measurement in the Department of Defense. A developing system.

In response to the need for high-quality mental health care for its beneficiaries at appropriate cost to the government, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) has developed a quality and utilization management program that requires contracted organizations to manage care through appropriate means. The system provides for oversight of utilization management contractors by a national quality monitoring contractor and a proposed utilization management criteria set based on an analysis of criteria sets currently used in government and industry. This article describes the program at its current level of development.