The best outcome management systems serve multiple purposes and provide communication between and among treatment professionals. TOP can be used to:

• Screen for problems in primary care, and alert for high–risk service utilization even before the first psychiatric break, allowing providers and health plans to coordinate services and prevent nearly a third of a billion dollars in unnecessary hospitalizations
• Provide referral assistance from primary to specialty care
• Assist in a full assessment at behavioral health intake where research shows that patients are more open and honest (on average) on questionnaires than in face–to–face interviews
• Assist in treatment planning
• Track progress over the course of treatment
• Alert professionals when treatment and medication compliance are off track
• Create a mechanism to keep all professionals, including primary care, aware of treatment progress