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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
Telehealth Advancement in Massachusetts 2020–2021
Molly Rafferty
/ Categories: Emerging Technologies, Telehealth

Telehealth Advancement in Massachusetts 2020–2021

Celebrating successes and insights for sustainability. June 2022.

Health center utilization of telehealth advanced in leaps and bounds since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. In 2019, fewer than 500,000 visits in health centers nationwide were provided via telehealth, and in 2020, over 28 million visits were conducted virtually as reported in the Uniform Data System (UDS).1
Massachusetts leadership and learning in telehealth have been a collaborative effort between Community Care Cooperative (C3) and the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers that together formed the FQHC Telehealth Consortium. In April 2020, the FQHC Telehealth Consortium began leadership calls with participating health centers to make progress on long-term telehealth strategy, with an initial focus on patient access and health center revenue. The FQHC Telehealth Consortium worked with Massachusetts health centers to develop a vision of telehealth maturity advancement and measurement specific to health centers, which, in turn, led to the development of a telehealth maturity model assessment tool to be applied across five domains.2 This tool was used to conduct interviews in telehealth maturity in summer/fall 2020 and again in summer/fall 2021. The key objectives of measuring telehealth maturity were to:

  1. Understand successes in implementation over the 18-month period from March 2020 through September 2021.
  2. Identify areas for continued development and refinement of telehealth models in health centers in order to sustain telehealth past the pandemic.

In 2021, interviews, using the maturity assessment tool, were conducted with health center leaders from each of 34 Masssachusetts health centers. The tool assesses telehealth advancement across the domains of strategy and leadership, clinical integration, people, technology, and reimbursement and policy. During the 34 interviews, themes emerged as to where health centers need to focus their efforts to advance, as well as best practices and recommendations. This resource summarizes those themes, organized by experience, what to do now, and next steps, within each of the five domains. The intent is for the experiences of Massachusetts health centers to inform others across the country.

1Health Center Program Uniform Data System (UDS) Data Overview 

2 HITEQ Center - Assessing Telehealth Maturity in Health Centers: A report out on the progress of Massachusetts health centers in advancing telehealth during a pandemic

Download the resource in the Documents to Download Section below.

Documents to download

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Tags: telehealth telemedicine telehealth reimbursement telehealth billing telehealth security telehealth accessibility telehealth infrastructure telehealth metrics telehealth maturity

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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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