SBIR-STTR Award

National effort toward cost-containment and treatment efficacy has increased the demand for quality documentation while economic measures have forced behavioral healthcare facilities to cut clinical staff. Consequently, tools are needed to assist clinicians with streamlining documentation, including initial assessment, treatment planning, assessment of outcome, aftercare, patient tracking and quality assurance indicators. TxManager-if developed, will meet these needs. In Phase I, research and development of an existing computerized treatment planning software, TxPlan, is necessary to provide data to direct the evolution of TxPlan's treatment planning engine into TxManager. A quasi- experimental design with non-equivalent planning engine into TxManager. A quasi-experimental design with non-equivalent controls, will compare plans generated by hand with computer generated plans, in computerized and non-computerized facilities. The dependent measure is ability to meet accreditation standards as measured by currently used JCAHO Scoring Guidelines. Phase I research will be analyzed with ANOVA. Currently, a graphical user interface will be developed for TxManager. This interface can also to extend the viability of TxPlan while TxManager is under development in Phase II. The researchers' software development track record, knowledge of the field, and collaborative relationship with a current customer base will enhance their ability to develop and to market TxManager. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: The market forecast for behavioral healthcare information services has doubled from $.8 billion in 1993 to 1.6 billion in 1996. Earley Corporation's 225 current TxPlan customers provide a ready market for TxManager. This program can be used in psychiatric, addiction, geriatric, forensic and even nursing home and home health organizations to streamline their documentation and have more time for quality patient care.

Thesaurus Terms:
computer assisted patient care, computer program /software, computer system design /evaluation, patient care management automated medical record system, behavioral medicine, computer assisted medical decision making, computer graphics /printing, computer human interaction, health care service clinical research, human dataNational Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

The national effort toward cost containment and treatment efficacy has increased the demand for quality documentation while economic measures have forced behavioral heals facilities to cut clinical staff. Consequently, tools are needed to assist clinicians with streamlining documentation, including initial assessment, patient placement, treatment planning, assessment of outcome, aftercare, and patient tracking. TxManager, Clinical Management Software, will be able to meet these needs with comprehensive, multidisciplinary decision support and a documentation system designed around the clinician's workflow. Phase II SBIR funding is being sought to complete the development and testing of TxManager, to user-defined beta specifications, from the prototype which is being completed in Phase I. An iterative rapid development model is being used that include specific evaluations planned for each stage of development by an internal testing grow and a group of target users. When the software meets alpha criteria for reliability and robustness, a field study will be conducted to measure ease of learning, retained knowledge, efficiency, quality of treatment planning documentation, and user satisfaction. The researchers' software development track record, knowledge of the field, and collaborative relationship with a current customer base will enhance their ability to develop and market TxManager.Proposed commercial application:All segments of the healthcare information services industry are growing (Dorenfest, Dorenfest' s forecast, for 1997, reports that the segment of the healthcare information market which includes behavioral health, will increase to $1.7 billion. This is evidence by Earley Corporation's 225 current customers who are a ready market for the TxManager product and will provide Phase III funding. TxManager will be used in health care treatment facilities such as: addiction, psychiatric, geriatric, and others.Thesaurus termsbehavioral medicine, computer assisted patient care, computer program /software, method development, patient care management automated medical record system, computer assisted medical decision making behavioral /social science research tag, health services research tag, human dataNational Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)