The HEDIS measure Follow-up After Hospitalization for Mental Illness (FUH) is the percentage of discharges of members who are six years of age and older who were hospitalized for treatment of selected mental illness diagnoses. The measure also focuses on members who have had an outpatient visit, partial hospitalization, or intensive outpatient encounter with a mental health practitioner. Please see below for how the FUH measure focuses on the following two rates:
30-day follow-up: An outpatient visit, partial hospitalization with a mental health practitioner, or intensive outpatient visit within 30 days of being discharged. These include visits and partial hospitalization that occur on the date of discharge.
Seven-day follow-up: An outpatient visit, partial hospitalization, partial hospitalization with a mental health practitioner, or intensive outpatient visit within seven days of being discharged. These include visits and partial hospitalization that occur on the date of discharge.
- Collaboration between the inpatient facility and outpatient provider is critical.
- Therefore, if a provider is aware of an inpatient admission, efforts should be made to work with hospital discharge planners to set up appointments prior to the patient leaving the hospital.