Measurement Informed Care (MIC) is designed to enhance client outcomes and is a standard practice at Grow Therapy. By using the measurement-based features in your provider portal, you can track and visualize a client's progress over time by analyzing their responses to clinical assessments. Below, you can find more information about the measurements available to Grow providers.
Key Takeaways
Progress-over-time features rely on clients' consistent measurement completion. Encouraging clients to complete their measures can increase the likelihood of active participation in these features.
Measures do not override your clinical judgment— documentation supporting medical necessity, regardless of measures, is key.
To learn how to manage your default measurement settings, see Manage recurring measures & check-ins.
For clinical support on using MIC in your practice, please visit the Measures section of the Grow Community's Clinical Resources library.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which measurements in the Grow EHR are available to assess a client's progress over time?
The following measures are available:
GAD7 (General Anxiety Disorder-7): This self-administered anxiety questionnaire assesses and evaluates your health status from the previous two weeks.
PHQ9 (Patient Health Questionnaire-9): This self-administered questionnaire is used to screen, diagnose, monitor, and measure the severity of depression symptoms.
TA (Therapeutic Alliance): This questionnaire was adapted from the Scale To Assess Therapeutic Relationships (STAR) and Brief Revised Working Alliance Inventory (BR-WAI) measures, standardized questionnaires that evaluate the quality of a client's relationship with their provider. This measurement is sent starting with the third appointment.
QOL (Quality of Life): This questionnaire was adapted from a series of quality-of-life (QOL) measures that capture how well a person functions in daily life.
CAGE-AID Substance Use (Adult): This four-question assessment is a helpful tool for screening substance dependence.
🌟TIP: Providers can access the PHQ and GAD measures in more than 30 languages at no cost by going to phqscreeners.com.
Is completing measures a requirement for insurance payors?
Payors, such as Kaiser NorCal, are increasingly mandating regular completion of measurements, typically the GAD and PHQ, as standard behavioral healthcare. You can configure your preferences for payor-required measurements in your Client check-in settings.
How often do clients receive these measures?
By default, all measures besides the Therapeutic Alliance are initially sent with a client's intake forms and are repeated every three appointments as recurring 'mental health check-ins.'
You can customize your measurement preferences in your profile settings. Grow Therapy will remind clients twice to complete their check-ins. This consistent approach ensures that you, as the clinician, remain aware of your client's progress, fostering reassurance and confidence in your practice.
My client requested to opt out of the measures. What should I do?
Grow Therapy emphasizes to clients the importance of regularly completing measures. However, clients can opt out of receiving measures through the settings in their Client Portal. When a client indicates they no longer want to receive measures, a pop-up message informs them how this could potentially impact their care and requests that they acknowledge that their provider must approve and review the request.
Am I able to administer the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale —screen version (C-SSRS)?
The C-SSRS (Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale) is included among the measures available in the Grow Therapy EHR. This rating scale is designed to be administered live by a provider in the client's presence. It is not intended for clients to complete outside of a session. More information on administrating the screener during a Grow Telehealth session is available here.
How do clients review their progress?
When clients regularly complete their check-ins, they can review their progress at the end of each questionnaire or bundle they complete. This information is then transferred directly into their client portal, much like the preview surfaced on the provider side (see image below). These insights allow clients to quantify their symptoms and better understand their experience. Clients are encouraged to review their answers for historical measures by date, allowing them to reflect on their journey thus far.
Measure progress over time
The progress over time features enable you to track variations in your clients' reported symptoms by showcasing their improvement. Nevertheless, you are solely responsible for making clinical decisions.
To view a client's progress over time feature:
Select Clients from the sidebar navigation.
Search for the desired client and select their name to bring up their profile.
Select the Treatment tab underneath the client's name.
Locate the "Progress" section. From here, you can toggle between grid and graph views, allowing for an evaluation of the client's progress over time. This information is calculated automatically from the answers collected in recurring measures.
Locate the "Measures" card to view a client's answers for each measure. This card displays each measure by completion date. Selecting the date opens a pop-up menu showing the client's scores and responses for each questionnaire.
Evaluate measurement scores
Establishing a baseline
Baseline scores are determined by the first set of measures a client completes. After a baseline is established, subsequent measures are used to evaluate changes in scores that indicate potential symptom changes. Regardless of your preferred view, colored arrows indicate an increase or decrease in symptoms or scores.
Utilizing the graph view
The progress graph view features a y-axis ranging from minimum to severe levels and an x-axis representing a timeline. At the top of the graph, you can toggle between different categories, including depression, anxiety, quality of life (coming soon), and therapeutic relationship, to view the graph for each measure.
Selecting a score from the graph will show scoring details for that check-in, including changes from the baseline and the most recent scores. Clicking the > symbol lets you view the recorded measure's responses.
Utilizing the grid view
The grid view uses the two most recent recorded scores to overview the client's progress.
Select Changes since previous results below the grid view to open the drop-down menu. This section shows additional information on the specific categories in which a client may be experiencing progress, challenges, or no change.
Additional resources
If you or your client(s) would like to read more information about completing measures and monitoring progress over time from the client's perspective, reference these articles in the Client Help Center: