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The author attempts to show that the choice of a way to record outpatient activity is of strategic importance for the future of the psychiatric sector. Currently, the computerized entry of services provided, described according to a standard nomenclature (the EDGAR grid), produces calculations of the total number of procedures per sector. These totals help calculate the volume of procedures, which can be broken down by occupational category, by exact type of procedure, or, more rarely, by diagnosis. These statistics do not at all take account of the specific structural characteristics of mental health centers (centres médico-psychologiques, CMPs). In fact, the activity of the CMP is distinguished from that of private psychiatric practices by its structure. There is no common measure for rates of absenteeism, frequency of unexpected events, and number of urgent situations received and treated. Curiously, CMPs do not generally have any way in which to highlight the specificities of their practice. Current records of the work performed at CMPs also conceals the complexity of the different “care formulas” offered to patients. Defining the “care formulas” that have benefited a certain given number of patients each year makes it possible to name the treatments and to make care management carried out at CMPs more effective. Today representation of this care is fragmented by its piecemeal description.