July 23, 2010
Mental Health Reports/Studies
US Congressmen Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and Tim Murphy (R-PA) noticed a hole in the HITECH components of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The legislation, they argue in the Health Information Technology Extension for Behavioral Health Services Act of 2010, should fund health IT for psychiatric and behavioral health facilities, too. Silver Hill Hospital (New Canaan, Conn.) couldn't wait for true mental health parity, they went live with OpenVista in March 2010. Now it's clear the OpenVista EHR system is clearly making a difference in the level of care this nationally recognized psychiatric hospital provides.
See below for more information on the value of EHR solutions to mental healthcare.
EHR and Patient Satisfaction
Do electronic health records affect the patient-psychiatrist relationship?
A before & after study of psychiatric outpatients
In a 2010 peer-reviewed study published in BMC Psychiatry, authors Randall F. Stewart, and his co-authors at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, examine the correlation between EHR use and changes to the patient-psychiatrist relationship. After administering a patient satisfaction survey to adult psychiatric outpatient volunteers with chronic mental illness prior to and following implementation of an EHR, they concluded: "While many barriers to the adoption of electronic health records do exist, concerns about disruption to the patient-psychiatrist relationship need not be a prominent focus. Attention to communication style, interpersonal manner and computer proficiency may help maintain the quality of the patient-psychiatrist relationship following EHR implementation."
Click on EHR/Psychiatry to access the full article.