The changes we’re facing in behavioral health and substance abuse treatment are breaking long-standing barriers within and between organizations. Because of technical advancements, we’ve joined other industries in exchanging client data…allowing us to treat the whole person. This is the most profound change within care delivery processes…at least in my lifetime.
The Goals of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 emphasizes the need for the U.S. to move toward the use of electronic health records. To encourage a widespread adoption of interoperable health information technology, the legislation called for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT working through NIST, to create a program for voluntary certification of health information technology that is in compliance with the applicable certification criteria to meet…
In his keynote address Monday, Feb. 24, at HIMSS 2014, Aetna CEO Mark T. Bertolini declared “It’s the perfect time to change.” He makes the case for three key priorities for the country’s ailing healthcare system. Invest in helping individuals take steps towards improved wellness via healthy choices and lifestyle Improve the care of the chronically ill Align financial incentives As I walked up and down every aisle in the HIMSS
As we welcomed in 2014, we also said ‘Hello’ to the start of Meaningful Use Stage 2. The HITECH Act is now five years old. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be doing a deeper dive into some of the changes the 2014 criteria mandate. Note: All stage 1 certified solutions (also known as 2011 stage 1), expired 12/31/2013. This expiration requires your organization to upgrade to a 2014 Edition Certified EHR Technology (CEHERT).
Theme: Disruptive Technology Big Data is currently one of the most covered topics in technology today. However, in order to gain perspective on why it dominates discussions of modern IT, science, and business, it actually turns out that we can examine the innovation that opened research to aspects of our world that are not so big. Erik Brynjolfsonn, MIT Sloan Professor and director of the MIT Center for Digital Business, views Big Data not as a fad but as a…
Recently I testified to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Policy committee’s certification and adoption workgroup regarding voluntary certification of electronic health records for behavioral health. Many groups were represented in the discussion including consumer advocates, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, SATVA, behavioral health providers, and methadone clinics. There were those
Data Breaches and Why Electronic Health Records Are Still Better January 30, 2014 When electronic health records were first introduced to behavioral healthcare, there was a significant amount of skepticism about whether we could trust these machines with this important and confidential information. We adjusted to using electronic records systems but many of us believed that the servers on which the data resided had to be on-site. Now, we think nothing of storing confidential
A Knowledge Driven Approach To Care Aug. 7, 2013 Welcome to my first blog on Clinical Corner! On August 14, I will be co-presenting a webinar as part of Netsmart’s Clinical Summer Webinar series. The webinar is called Imagining Knowledge-Driven Care: Seamless Knowledge Flow for Continuous Improvement.
The New World of Accountable Care: A visit to the University of Southern California July 1, 2013 Southern California in general and the campus of USC in particular are beautiful this time of year. The temperature and humidity are such that registration for conferences happens outside on a green lawn under a tent. Such were the circumstances surrounding my recent visit to Los Angeles to present at the 7th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health on the…
International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership (IIMHL) April 12, 2013 As I mentioned, I have attended two noteworthy events recently. Last week, I shared with you about attending the MHCA event. This week, I will be talking about how I recently attended the seventh meeting of the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership (IIMHL) www.iimhl.com in Auckland New Zealand. IIMHL was created in 2003 primarily through the efforts of MHCA. Several of the members of
