The inpatient caseload is fairly steady, but the outpatient load is ever-changing. The central staff make frequent staff deployment decisions to deal with the dynamic pattern of admissions, discharges, and turnover within the mental health units. These includ overtime authorizations, staff re-allocations, and hiring authorizations. The patient intake process and patient record generation take place at each of the mental health units. After the data is entered, several reports are generated including case records, logs, and spreadsheets which make up the set of Quarterly Outpatient Statistics.
Most units send a disk along with a hard copy of the data.
The data is then manually checked for accuracy. This process, multiplied by 22, takes an enormous amount of time for the six-person central staff. After the data is entered, aggregate reports are generated which the Operations Director uses to make staffing decisions across the units. These aggregate reports are also mailed back to the units. This mostly manual process takes a considerable amount of time, is repeated every quarter, and can sometimes lag for weeks.