Compare methods

	Routine Outcome Monitoring	Feedback-Informed Treatment
Field	Social Work	Social Work
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	2001	2003
Originator	Michael J. Lambert and the patient-focused/measurement-based-care tradition	Scott D. Miller, Barry L. Duncan & colleagues (PCOMS)
Type	Systematic repeated measurement of client outcomes to inform ongoing care	Practice framework using session-by-session client feedback on outcome and alliance
Seminal source	Lambert, M. J., Hansen, N. B., & Finch, A. E. (2001). Client-focused research: Using client outcome data to enhance treatment effects. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 69(2), 159–172.	Miller, S. D., Duncan, B. L., Brown, J., Sparks, J. A., & Claud, D. A. (2003). The Outcome Rating Scale: A preliminary study of the reliability, validity, and feasibility of a brief visual analog measure. Journal of Brief Therapy, 2(2), 91–100.
Aliases	ROM, Measurement-Based Care, Outcome Monitoring, Progress Monitoring	FIT, Partners for Change Outcome Management System, PCOMS, Client-Directed Outcome-Informed Practice
Related	4	4
Summary	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.	Feedback-informed treatment (FIT) is a structured way of practicing in which the client completes very brief measures of how they are doing (outcome) and how the session went (the alliance) at every meeting, and the clinician discusses these ratings openly with the client and uses them to adjust the work. Developed by Scott Miller, Barry Duncan, and colleagues as the Partners for Change Outcome Management System, FIT operationalizes routine outcome monitoring as a transparent, collaborative conversation, anchored by the four-item Outcome Rating Scale and Session Rating Scale, and is recognized as an evidence-based practice for improving engagement and reducing dropout and deterioration.