Making the Match: Intentional use of data to drive decision making

This presentation will briefly review the history of decision making regarding the use of residential treatment for children and youth and then provide an update on the current state of best practices. Within the context of current best practices, our work around the country to support decision-making on level of care and placement into Qualified Residential Treatment Programs will be presented.   The implications of these strategies for the design and management of residential treatment programs will be discussed.

As we build larger and more clinically sophisticated administrative databases, it becomes possible to imagine a future in which science, experience, and technology blend to help identify optimal circumstances for the use of residential treatment within the context of existing intensive community care.   Given the power of information, most sectors are moving in this direction.  It is inevitable that the child and family serving sector will move in this direction as well.  The key to our success is what information is used to build these models.  The distinction between predictive and precision analytics will be described and discussed.