Photo: Fiordaliso/Getty Images The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, using Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration data, recently examined the use of health IT in behavioral health settings. The results showed that the use of electronic health records for various clinical and administrative tasks varied widely among facilities, despite the growing demand for substance use and mental health treatment services. Further, the use of EHRs for exchanging health data also lagged. “Results can help inform efforts to advance the adoption and use of health IT in behavioral health settings,” said ONC researchers about the analysis. “Continued efforts to address behavioral health data exchange challenges are critical to improve the continuity of care and improve health outcomes.” WHY IT MATTERS To improve clinical care, quality of care and patient outcomes, the Department of Health and Human Services seeks to advance the adoption and use of EHRs and improve health data interoperability. The N-SUMHSS data showed that EHR adoption was significantly higher among federal government facilities (97%) and local, county and community government facilities (73%) when compared to private for-profit organizations (68%). Combined patient charting rates were highest among state government facilities (51%), while the lowest rates were reported among private for-profit organizations (22%) and federal government facilities (3%). For 10 of these metrics, less than half of all facilities SAMHSA surveyed in 2024 said they use EHRs for patient messaging or patient access to medical records less than half of the time – 45% and 44%, respectively. Some facilities do use their EHRs for care coordination tasks, with 87% reviewing warnings or alerts (72% of those on combination charting) and 84% reconciling medications (69% of those on combination charting). “The data suggest that there may be both gaps in the capabilities of implemented EHRs to perform certain tasks and gaps in how some facilities implemented and used their EHR, perhaps using computer-based tools outside their EHR workflow, other non-EHR methods or paper-based practices for some tasks versus others,” ONC said. BHIT involves 45 exchange partners. Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News. Email: afox@himss.org Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/behavioral-health-data-exchange-challenges-impede-interoperability-says-onc