Behavioral health IT: toward seamless care for California's kids
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Contributor(s):
- Tinstman, Thomas C. DeMello, Steven. California HealthCare Foundation.
- Publication:
- Oakland, Calif. : California HealthCare Foundation, c2009
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Community Networks Information Systems -- standards Mental Health Services -- legislation & jurisprudence Patient-Centered Care Pediatrics Adolescent Adolescent Health Services Child Child Health Services Computer Security Cooperative Behavior Medical Records Systems, Computerized Outcome Assessment (Health Care) Privacy Humans California
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- A complex network of public and private entities fund and deliver behavioral health care in California. As in many other states, the network is characterized by fragmentation and poor coordination of services, due in part to reliance on paper records. Information systems tailored specifically to behavioral health care could improve the efficiency and effectiveness of these services in a number of ways. California's 58 counties, with guidance and funding from the state, are implementing a variety of behavioral health information technologies. To get a sense of progress to date and major hurdles, the authors--who focused on care for children and adolescents, given their diverse demographics and needs--reviewed state data and the literature, and interviewed numerous experts. They found that each county is following an independent path toward adoption, that most are implementing a basic electronic health record, and that the lengthy process entails many difficult challenges, some of which are unique to behavioral health care. However, this effort also presents many opportunities--among them, to standardize data and terminologies, build county collaboration, adopt consumer-centric information technologies, establish privacy and security policies, develop outcomes measures, set reporting standards, and share knowledge.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY license. (More information)
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101514666 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101514666