Effective behavioral health treatment requires a collaborative team of caregivers. These teams need seamless integration and visibility across multidisciplinary efforts involving cross-departmental collaboration with shared resources and goals. Next-generation EHRs are pivotal in providing the necessary visibility and coordination for critical behavioral healthcare.
Unlike general healthcare facilities, many behavioral health providers either lack EHR systems or are burdened with outdated EHRs that hinder coordination rather than improve care delivery.
The Current State
An NIH study examining the impact of EHRs on information practices in mental health contexts found:
- EHRs increased the volume of documented information compared to paper records.
- Mental health-related data, particularly sensitive information, was often missing from EHRs.
- EHRs introduced standardized and formalized documentation practices, which posed challenges in a field that relies heavily on narrative information.
- EHRs disrupted information workflows, especially when they lacked appropriate templates or care plans.
- Managing sensitive information in EHRs was problematic, leading clinicians to dilute or store sensitive details separately.
Another recent study highlighted the barriers to EHR adoption in behavioral health, revealing that only 49% of psychiatric hospitals use certified EHRs compared to 96% of general and surgical facilities. This gap is primarily due to psychiatric facilities and care being excluded from the 2009 HITECH Act, which funded hospitals to implement and demonstrate the “meaningful use” of EHRs.
Advancements in Functionality
Next-generation EHR solutions now offer functionalities tailored explicitly to behavioral health treatment plans. These advanced systems provide the personalization needed to adapt to individual patient needs while keeping pace with regulatory changes. They offer real-time patient data, easy review options, and facilitate creating and maintaining the “Golden Thread” of care. Multiple clinicians can easily attach assessments and notes directly to the treatment plan, ensuring no gaps in patient information.
These are some advanced features that better support behavioral care:
- Adherence to CMS-recommended guidelines: Ensuring patient safety and adequate documentation for reimbursement, particularly as federal regulators hold private insurers more accountable within the Medicare program.
- Customizability: Allowing adjustments to meet unique patient or provider needs with built-in templates and access to resources like Wiley Open Access Journals.
- Designed for seamless information flow: Data is centralized —progress notes, therapy notes, medications, and diagnoses—eliminating the need for double entry. Push notifications can be managed based on changes in treatment personnel.
- Session scheduling: Offering comprehensive scheduling functionality, accommodating and empowering patients in their treatment, as well as meeting staff preferences and mitigating peer conflicts.
Providing a centralized platform where all contributions to patient care are visible is critical. This will enable precise monitoring and continuous care adjustment based on treatment progress or challenges.
A patient enrolled in therapy is a good example. With enhanced EHR functionality, all caregivers can access the patient’s schedule, attendance records, therapy notes, and progress. Changes can be made within the system rather than through external communication, reducing the risk of information falling through the cracks. Multidisciplinary care can become fragmented and unsafe without such visibility.
Funding Opportunities
In addition to advanced EHR tools, funding opportunities are improving. Congress has acknowledged the oversight of excluding behavioral health providers from the HITECH Act. The Behavioral Health Information Technology (BHIT) Coordination Act proposes $20 million annually in grant funding over five fiscal years (FY 25-29) to help mental health, substance use disorder, and other behavioral health providers acquire or upgrade health IT.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has also issued a Special Emphasis Notice (SEN) under the Leading Edge Acceleration Projects (LEAP) in Health Information Technology (Health IT) funding opportunity for FY 2024. This initiative focuses on AI and developing lightweight health IT solutions to enhance capabilities in behavioral health settings and improve care coordination with clinical healthcare. Up to $2 million in awards is expected for fiscal year 2024.
Newer EHR providers recognize behavioral health teams’ unique challenges, especially as staff are pressured to care for more patients with fewer resources. With better tools designed specifically for behavioral health, providers can centralize patient records, manage schedules, and maintain patient confidentiality—all from a single dashboard.
It’s time to give behavioral health providers the tools they need. Next-generation EHRs can help elevate behavioral care to the same priority level as general healthcare.
About Albert Roberts
Albert Roberts BSN, RN CSM, UXC is a Clinical Systems Analyst II at Juno Health.
