Health IT
Connecting behavioral health and primary care requires going beyond simple collocation and collaboration. Integration often requires infrastructure change. Central to the success of integrated efforts is the ability for providers to share an electronic health record (EHR). This need requires consideration of many health IT issues. For example, some critical concepts in health IT are EHRs, electronic Personal Health Records (ePHRs), privacy and sharing, and health information exchange (HIE). In this section, we will address these issues as they apply to integration, and point the user to resources. While the literature suggests an inseparable relationship exists between behavioral health and physical health, this evidence has yet to translate into getting considerable support from within the larger health care policy, planning, and delivery systems. As a result, there continues to be a broad spectrum of needs including health IT. For the integration field to move forward, there needs to be a better grasp on what health IT practices must be in place to share information across providers. Often, this is challenging as records of the respective fields are frequently kept in separate locations; a practice promulgated by current training, education, and policymaking trends. Yet, there appear to be better ways for behavioral health and primary care providers to share information in a unified manner through the medical record. In this section, the Academy will also address the policy, planning, and delivery systems issues as they relate to health IT. For more information: Bates, D. W., & Bitton, A. (2010). The future of health information technology in the patient-centered medical home. Health Affairs (Project Hope), 29(4), 614-621. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2010.0007
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