Health Reform Readiness Index

This index helps you assess your organization's capacity to undertake the changes resulting from health care reform, parity legislation, state budget shortfalls, and increased performance accountability.

The index lists 13 conditions related to your organization's readiness for change. We group these conditions in two categories: Building Blocks and Your Organization. For example, the first condition relates to the role of patients and their families at your organization. The second relates to evidence-based treatment. For each condition, the index describes a range of characteristics. Defining your organization in terms of these characteristics will show you how ready your organization is for change and what improvements your organization might be able to make.

Each condition groups the characteristics into four levels:

1. Need to Begin: Your organization may not be aware of important information or strategies related to that condition.
2. Early Stages: Your organization may be aware of important information or strategies, but hasn't yet started implementing changes.
3. On the Way: Your organization has a plan or strategy and has taken beginning steps to implement it. You have a commitment from partners and some resources to support implementation.
4. Advanced: Your organization has a good track record of designing and implementing strategies that strengthen services, marketing, outreach, financial viability, and outcomes and most likely will continue to build on that record.

No organization performs at the advanced level for all the conditions. The purpose of the index is to help you identify your starting point and your strategies for increasing readiness.

NIATx Accelerating Reform Initiative

The Health Reform Readiness Index came out of the work of the NIATX Accelerating Reform Initiative (ARI). ARI gives behavioral health care organizations the tools and peer supports they need to respond to the sweeping changes that parity, health care integration, and decreased grant funding may bring. ARI has two primary aims:

• To reach more people who need treatment and recovery support for addiction and mental health disorders
• To treat the whole person by addressing related health conditions