Program Development and Administration
Program Development and Administration tests the supervisor’s ability to plan, operate, and improve services: needs assessment, program design, policy, staffing, budgeting, quality improvement, and compliance. Questions favor measurable objectives, data, and risk management over intuition.
Core rules
- Start with a community and client needs assessment using multiple data sources: incidence and prevalence, waiting lists, referrals, surveys, and stakeholder input.
- Convert needs into a logic model: inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes. Distinguish outputs (number served) from outcomes (changes in functioning, retention, abstinence, housing).
- Write policies and procedures that reflect licensure, accreditation, payer, and confidentiality requirements; train staff and monitor adherence.
- Plan staffing with caseload standards, licensure and credential verification, supervision ratios, and succession coverage. Build a budget with direct and indirect costs, revenue assumptions, and contingency.
- Use continuous quality improvement: define indicators, collect data, analyze variation, test changes (PDSA), and remeasure. Manage risk through incident review and corrective action.
Worked example
A clinic’s no-show rate is 35%. Reasoning: define the metric and stratify by day, payer, and clinician; map the intake-to-first-appointment process; test reminder calls and transportation referrals in a small PDSA cycle; measure again. Do not conclude “clients are unmotivated” without data.
Traps
Confusing outputs with outcomes; writing policies without implementation training; ignoring payer or grant conditions; using one data point to judge a program; failing to document corrective actions.