Posted on March 6, 2010.
Provide behavioral health in the electronic age Mental Health and Addiction treatment providers are now facing a crucial question - how can they better manage information to improve care and safety while protecting patients' rights and privacy. Behavioral Health is part of the healthcare industry, which is in the midst of a profound transformation in order to better manage patient health information. This transformation has been occurring almost naturally because of advances in information technology and management. He promises a system of improved health care that we hope will put an end to 44,000 to 98,000 patient deaths that occur each year due to preventable errors related information.
The federal government contributes to the transformation of health care information technology. In 2004, President Bush issued Decree 13335 which called for widespread adoption of information technology in health care and created the Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) to help to achieve this goal. For a service provider, the electronic health record may seem like a software problem, but it is actually a redesign of business practices that affect patient safety and quality of care.
How can behavioral health part of the transformation of health care information technology? Behavioral health providers must first decide on mental health and essential information addiction for inclusion in a common EHR. This decision must solve five key policy issues:
1. What unique information on behavioral health must be integrated into an EHR?
2. Should there be time limits on behavioral health information in EHRs - for example, if a diagnosis of alcoholism to be maintained 25 years after sobriety has been achieved?
3. What are the possibilities for the field of behavioral health to participate in the development of the EHR?
4. What should the role of behavioral health consumers and service providers play in the active management of behavioral health information and other data standards?
5. How the privacy and confidentiality address EHR?
What is the behavioral health managed since this transformation? Unfortunately, not very well. Information technology used in behavioral health is generally argued that administrative reports and is far from fulfilling the potential to improve clinical decision making and program planning.
To help better the behavioral health response to this transformation, the Substance Abuse and Centre for Mental Health Services Administration for the treatment of addictions sponsored behavioral health standards of treatment group (BHTS) 2005 . The mission BHTS is to increase knowledge, understanding and use of data standards in behavioral health treatment for addiction and mental health. BHTS members include a mix of organizations representing drug prevention and treatment, and mental health services and software vendors involved in the development of FSD for the behavioral health
suppliers.
BHTS is achieving results. An important result was obtained by the standardization organizations that shape the design of technology and information infrastructure for electronic health records (such as Health Level Seven) to reflect the specific needs of patients and providers of behavioral health at the respect privacy and confidentiality. BHTS is also the awareness and understanding within the public and private sector on the significant potential of EHRs in clinical and administrative issues, including reporting to multiple entities fund services for behavioral health. BHTS currently working to gather information on the cost of implementing these systems and learn more about the reporting requirements for providers of behavioral health. This knowledge will be used to better shape the public effort to be part of the behavioral health transformation occurring in healing.
