A National Imperative: Joining Forces to Strengthen Human Services in America (Jan 2018)

CASE STUDY: FINANCING OUTCOMES AND INCENTIVES IN KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON

Third Sector Capital Partners is working with King County, Washington to create human services programs that align financial incentives with the attainment of positive outcomes. Such programs ensure that CBOs tailor their services and supports to achieve maximal impact for the individuals, families, and communities they serve. Outpatient Treatment on Demand , one of the programs currently underway, aims to improve timely access to outpatient behavioral health care for citizens of King County. As part of the program, participating CBOs will receive bonus payments for achieving certain performance targets tailored to the program’s objectives, which include delivering timely intake assessments and connecting patients to follow-up routine care. CBOs worked with the County to assess the currently available performance data and agree to meaningful outcomes metrics and targets that will trigger bonus payments. CBOs will have continuous access to data on their own performance, which the County will also use to assess which CBOs are performing strongly. The program is open to all CBOs contracting with King County to provide outpatient behavioral health services, which collectively serve about 48,000 individuals every year. Outcomes-based programs like Outpatient Treatment on Demand introduce a number of benefits. Foremost, CBOs are incentivized to focus their efforts on achieving positive outcomes in order to qualify for bonus payments. This may help spur innovation as CBOs work to develop more impactful programs while phasing out those that are not up to par. Demonstrating outcomes requires rigorous study design, measurement, and evaluation, contributing to a culture of evidence and continuous learning in the human services sphere. These programs also help governments identify and allocate funding toward programs and services that produce the best results – a proposition more palatable to the taxpayer and more compelling to legislators and administrators making budgetary decisions.

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