Routine Outcome Monitoring

Routine outcome monitoring (ROM), also called measurement-based care, is the practice of repeatedly administering a validated outcome measure throughout a course of treatment and using the resulting data to track each client's progress, compare it against an expected recovery trajectory, and adjust care when a client is not improving as predicted. Pioneered in psychotherapy by Michael Lambert's patient-focused research and now standard in behavioral health and social work, it turns outcome measurement from a one-time research activity into a continuous clinical feedback loop that demonstrably improves outcomes for clients who would otherwise deteriorate.