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Incredible Behavioral Health Integrator Badge

HITEQ Health Center Cybersecurity Defender Against the Dark WebHealth centers are increasing the integration of behavioral health in primary care, spurred by an increased focus on whole person care and additional funding. Effective use of health IT in conjunction with patient privacy and confidentiality is imperative to support behavioral health.

According to the Office of the National Coordinator, "Health information technology can help to improve behavioral health care and can further enable care coordination and integration, increase information sharing, and support prevention, treatment, and recovery activities. Access to and the exchange and use of behavioral health information as part of routine care can help to improve continuity in care services and support efforts toward achieving an interoperable health care system across the continuum."

Take some time to read through some of the articles on this page and then fill out the submission form on the right and you will be rewarded with a Health Center Incredible Behavioral Health Integrator badge! This is an official badge that is submitted by the HITEQ Center as a proof of completion to the blockchain. Your credentials can be added to profiles such as LinkedIn and verified through accreditation services such as Accredible and Open Badge.

Using the EHR to Facilitate Integrated Behavioral Health
Lessons Learned in Social Need Screening

Lessons Learned in Social Need Screening

Takeaways and examples from interviews with health centers

Download the full Lessons Learned publication in the Documents to Download section below. 

In recent years, health centers have become increasingly interested in and charged with not only addressing the health concerns of their patients, but centering and responding to patient’s social needs. According to Healthy People 2030, social needs, also known as the social determinants of health, are the conditions in the environments where people live, learn, work, and play that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks. Social needs encompass the quality of and access to resources such as housing, transportation, safety, employment, food, and more. Identifying and addressing unmet social needs as part of the clinical encounter provides the opportunity to deliver higher-quality, whole-person care, advance population health, and reduce healthcare costs.

In an effort to better address patients’ social needs, health centers are turning to screening tools such as Protocol for Responding to and Assessing Patient’s Assets, Risks, and Experiences (PRAPARE), among others, to collect a wide range of social needs data. This information can be used to inform clinical decision making, develop internal programming, and refer patients to community-based resources. Despite recent momentum in the area of social needs screening, implementation at community health centers continues to be varied and uneven, and many are looking for guidance from peers on how to screen for social needs and respond to positive screens.

HITEQ explored the current landscape of social need screening implementation by first reviewing recent literature and publications. This information was then contextualized in past experiences and conversations with health centers, ultimately building upon our existing knowledge of the drivers, opportunities, and challenges of social needs screening.

To take a deeper dive, HITEQ conducted interviews with eleven health centers in Fall 2021. We specifically reached out to selected health centers that successfully reported across all four categories of social need in the 2020 Uniform Data System (UDS) report, therefore indicating some level of consistent deployment of social need screening. These UDS categories include food insecurity, housing insecurity, financial strain, and lack of transportation or access to public transportation. The health centers interviewed represented different states and localities, as well as different population and catchment sizes.

This resource is designed to support health centers by outlining promising practices that were illuminated in the interviews with health centers who found success implementing their social need screening programs. In particular, the interviews brought to light that to implement an integrated screening program that produces high-quality data, health centers must utilize digital health solutions and leverage their electronic health record (EHR). This resource shares examples of these solutions in practice, and is designed to equip health centers with the information necessary to implement a screening program that limits burden on staff, is meaningful for patients and their care, and advances population health.

The digital solutions presented can be used to help health centers begin conceptualizing their social need screening program, and support health centers with existing programs to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement. How health centers apply the information detailed in this resource will depend on their capacity, resources, workflows, and level of readiness.

Documents to download

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Patient Privacy and Confidentiality: 42 CFR Part 2 and Consent Management
Behavioral Health Consent Management

Behavioral Health Consent Management

The timely exchange of health information between behavioral health providers and physical health providers to support care coordination is a critical element of the National Quality Strategy and health reform efforts. However, privacy and confidentiality concerns are currently limiting the inclusion of behavioral health data in electronic health information exchange efforts.

Compliance with 42 CFR Part 2: A Case Study with Community Medical Centers, Inc.

Compliance with 42 CFR Part 2: A Case Study with Community Medical Centers, Inc.

Health centers are actively expanding the substance use treatment services they offer in the community to address access to care for opioid use disorders, and more broadly to address better screening, referral and timely access to all substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. The downloadable case study below is an example of how a health center is assessing operations to comply with 42 CFR Part 2, with a particular focus on changes to their health information technology (IT) systems.

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More Behavioral Health Integration Resources for Health Centers
HRSA Center of Excellence for Behavioral Health Technical Assistance

HRSA Center of Excellence for Behavioral Health Technical Assistance

The HRSA Center of Excellence for Behavioral Health Technical Assistance (COE for BHTA) helps grantees integrate substance use and mental health (behavioral health) services in primary care settings.

Focus: PHI

Focus: PHI

Patient privacy and confidentiality form a crucial component of the patient-doctor treatment relationship, particularly when seeking treatment for mental health or substance use disorders. Multiple federal privacy laws, in addition to state laws, provide privacy protections for mental health and substance use disorder treatment records, while permitting communication of these records to other healthcare providers, patients’ families, and others.

Behavioral Health Integration Compendium

Behavioral Health Integration Compendium

Many health centers collaborate with external behavioral health providers or provide co-located or integrated behavioral health services within their health center. Some of the most significant challenges are determining which data to share, how to store it within the Electronic Health Record, and how to use it within primary care. This compendium of literature and resources offers some guidance related to behavioral health data integration, complete with key health center considerations for each.

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Acknowledgements

This resource collection was cultivated and developed by the HITEQ team with valuable suggestions and contributions from HITEQ Project collaborators.

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The Quadruple Aim
Quadruple Aim

A Conceptual Framework

Improving the U.S. health care system requires four aims: improving the experience of care, improving the health of populations, reducing per capita costs and improving care team well-being. HITEQ Center resources seek to provide content and direction aligned with the goals of the Quadruple Aim

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