Unreported data led to jeopardizing a federal grant

The Issue: 

One of the companies I worked for provided on-site clinical care to low-income women who had recently given birth or were about to give birth. The women all suffered from behavioral health issues and many of them also had substance abuse issues for which they were receiving treatment. Many were afflicted by Post-partum depression. The site itself was capable of supporting 40 women and their children, who lived on the premises during treatment.

The company wanted to receive a grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for $4.5 Million that would allow them to support the operations of the program. (https://www.samhsa.gov/grants/grant-announcements/ti-20-010) The grant had certain requirements about allocating some of the funding towards training for the women in treatment, and other requirements regarding measuring the efficacy of the overall treatment program.

We had a grant writer on site who could write the proposal to the government, but we had no mechanism in place to fulfill the remaining requirements.

The Solution: 

I went through our clinical practices and the Academic literature on different clinical reporting strategies and developed a proposal for the executive team that showed how we could use a Mixed-Methods approach to measure; the type and number of services provided, the number and type of training provided, the changes in goals specified on their treatment plans, the changes to their Part E clinical assessments, and other clinical surveys such as the ACORN tool to produce a clear, measurable, and objective picture of treatment that would fulfill the grant requirements.

I also combed through the appropriate clinical training to build out a catalog of training for both the staff and the clients that specifically addressed issues faced by these clients; substance abuse during pregnancy, post-partum depression, early childhood development, etc.

The Result: 

The company was awarded the grant and hired a full-time grant administrator to compile the necessary reports. This was an $4.5 Million grant that the company would have struggled to receive otherwise.