The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), Bethesda, Md, has endorsed the Boston University Activity Measure for Post Acute Care (AM-PAC™) as an outcomes measurement tool for occupational therapy. The tool will be a measure used to gather functional improvement data for AOTA’s national outcomes database for occupational therapy.

The AM-PAC, a state-of-the-art outcome instrument provided by CREcare LLC,assesses a client’s functional status across three domains: basic mobility, daily activities, and applied cognitive. The AM-PAC was developed by researchers at the Boston University Health and Disability Institute.

“The AM-PAC is appropriate for functional assessment in adults with a wide range of conditions and functional abilities," says Richard Moed, president and CEO of CREcare "The AM-PAC is ideal for tracking these outcomes as a client progresses across an episode of care. Clients can respond to AM-PAC items or the instrument can be completed by clinicians or family members.” 

Along with AM-PAC scores, the national database will include client demographics, type of intervention, frequency of intervention, and other critical outcomes data. Users will be able to benchmark and compare treatment outcomes across facilities and against national averages when the system is fully operational.

“The ultimate benefit would be the availability of information for use by individual practitioners and facilities to track the outcomes of their services and to use this information for quality improvement and for marketing their services with external organizations,” says AOTA President Penelope Moyers Cleveland EdD, OTR/L, BCMH, FAOTA.

AOTA’s system will also help impact health care policy. “AOTA’s Board of Directors identified the creation of a national outcomes database as a priority to meet the the growing demands of consumers, payers, and policymakers for demonstrating the value and effectiveness of occupational therapy,” says Frederick P. Somers, AOTA’s executive director.

AOTA represents the professional interests and concerns of more than 140,000 occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, and students nationwide. 

CREcare LLC,  develops and implements state-of-the-art clinical outcome measurement systems providing information needed to improve the quality and efficiency of care. For more information, go to www.crecare.com.

[Source: AOTA]