Multisystemic
Therapy
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 SITE EVALUATION You can either download the Site Evaluation in MS Word format or view it online. |
In preparing your site evaluation, please cover the following areas:
[]Identify organizations and agencies affected by the MST program (i.e. schools, social services, juvenile justice, etc.) that need to be "on board" to ensure the successful implementation of the MST program.
[] What evidence exists that these organizations and agencies are "on board"? Please include copies of any memoranda of agreement regarding the support of the MST program in terms of collaboration, referrals, or reimbursement.
[] Confirm that the provider organization will be able to take the "lead" on cases with the buy-in of other organizations and agencies, i.e. MST Therapists will be able to "take the lead" for clinical decision making on each case. The organization sponsoring the MST program has responsibility for initiating collaborative relationships with these organizations and agencies. Each MST Therapist sustains these relationships through ongoing, case-specific collaboration.
[] Identify referral sources, anticipated availability of referrals, referral procedures, and the referral criteria (age range, diagnostic/problem profiles, etc.).
[] Describe the funding sources for MST program (e.g. program funding, fee for service, case rate, capitated rate, performance contract).
[] Identify any potential financial disincentives for referral sources to use MST program (i.e. referral source must pay for MST but not for placing the youth in an out-of-home setting).
[] Confirm that the following youth will not be referred to the MST program: youth referred for sex offenses (in the absence of other anti-social behavior), and youth in need of crisis stabilization due to active suicidal, homicidal, or psychotic behavior.
[] Describe the factors contributing to the interest in MST (e.g. significant public sector policies or initiatives, federal or state level funding for training, third party payer and/or managed care’s impact on the service environment, etc.).
[] Include the provider organization’s statements of mission and service philosophy (attaching a recent annual report or program brochure may be an easy way to accomplish this objective).
[] Are there written, measurable goals for the MST program.
[] How will program-level outcomes be measured?
[] Discuss how the organization will track case outcomes and adherence by the clinicians to the MST treatment model (an easy-to-implement measure of therapist adherence is available to programs).
[] Confirm that the MST Clinical Supervisor will have credible authority over the MST clinicians. Describe the clinical and administrative lines of authority.
[] MST Therapists will be full-time Masters level professionals assigned to the MST program solely.
[] MST Clinical Supervisors will be either Ph.D. level or experienced Masters level professionals.
[] MST Therapists will operate in teams of no fewer than 2 and no more than 4 therapists (plus the MST Clinical Supervisor) and use a home-based model of service delivery.
[] MST Clinical Supervisors will be assigned to the MST program a minimum of 25% time (50% time is preferable) per MST Team to conduct weekly team clinical supervision, facilitate the weekly MST telephone consultation, and be available for individual clinical supervision for crisis cases. Supervisors carrying a partial case load should be assigned to the program on a full-time basis.
[] MST case loads will not exceed 6 families per therapists with a normal range being 4 to 6 families per therapist.
[] The expected duration of treatment is 3 to 5 months.
[] In order to achieve outcomes through consistent adherence to the MST model, MST Therapists must track progress and outcomes on each case weekly by completing case paperwork and by participating in team clinical supervision and MST consultation. Please confirm that there all therapists will participate in these activities.
[] MST Therapists will be accessible at times that are convenient to their clients and in times of crisis, very quickly. Issues to be addressed in this area include the dedicated nature of the MST Therapist role, the use of flex-time/comp-time, policies regarding the use of personal vehicles, and the use of pagers and cellular phones.
[] The MST program will have a 24 hour/day, 7 day/week on-call system to provide coverage when MST Therapists are on vacation or taking personal time. This system must be staffed by professionals who know the details of each MST case and understand MST.
[] Confirm that supervision practices can conform to the following format: weekly MST group consultation, weekly group clinical supervision, and individual supervision only as needed due to case crises.
[] Confirm that discharge criteria will be outcome-based rather than being focused on treatment duration or other criteria.
[] Discuss how after-care referrals will be made. Will such referrals be carefully managed and limited to after-care referrals that target specific, well-defined problems? MST assumes that most cases should need minimal "formal" after-care services.
[] Discuss the administration’s expectations for the training program and outline specific objectives for the training program.
This page was last modified on May 12, 1999
© 1998 Multisystemic Therapy Services