The APA Mental Health Registry, also known as the Mental and Behavioral Health Registry (MBHR) or PsychPRO, is an online database developed by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in partnership with the software vendor Healthmonix. It is a Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for use in reporting by Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) eligible clinicians. The registry's primary function is to help psychiatrists, psychologists, and other behavioral health practitioners track patient outcomes, meet MACRA/MIPS reporting requirements to avoid payment penalties and achieve bonuses, and automatically meet Maintenance of Competence (MOC) Part IV requirements.
Key Features and Capabilities:
- Quality Reporting & Compliance: Direct submission of MIPS measures (including standard and unique specialty mental/behavioral health measures) to CMS. It is the only registry option that includes measures to screen for anxiety disorders and report anxiety disorder treatment response.
- Outcome Tracking: Collects patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and utilizes real-time dashboards to track performance metrics, compare outcomes, and allow for benchmarking against aggregated data locally, regionally, and nationally.
- Clinical Improvement: Provides patient progress reports, tools to support clinical decisions, and resources related to clinical practice guidelines and evidence-based practices.
- EHR Integration: Offers data integration capabilities, including seamless integration with Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems like TherapyNotes™, to automatically gather clinical data and reduce the administrative reporting burden.
- Value-Based Care: Provides objective data and advanced algorithms to assess patient outcomes, which can be used to negotiate with value-based reimbursement payment programs (pay-for-performance).
- Patient Portal: Includes a patient portal connected to the registry to make questionnaires available to patients and display their progress.
The registry is designed for use in various settings, including solo practices, small and large group practices, and large institutions. The platform was updated with the launch of PsychPRO 2.0 in 2022, offering enhanced options for patient engagement and streamlined data collection.