Paper Example on EMR Revolution: Transforming Quality of Behavioral Healthcare

Introduction

Electronic medical records (EMRs) have revolutionized the exchange of health information among primary care facilities and hospitals. Advances in digital technology have the potential to transform the scope of EMR systems and thus, an opportunity to improve the quality of patient care. Besides providing complete and accurate information, EMR technology enables medical practitioners to offer higher quality and safer healthcare for their patients. Behavioral healthcare, in particular, encompasses one of the most varied healthcare settings and thus the need for a reliable system for keeping and transmitting electronic medical records. This research paper aims to evaluate the opportunities and the benefits underlying EMR interoperability in behavioral healthcare settings. However, mental health facilities offer a wide range of services from fulltime residential psychiatric care to outpatient substance abuse treatment. The kind of care provided within these services differs and thus an indication that each area has significant sensitivities in terms of both client privacy and treatment approach. Behavioral healthcare organizations, therefore, should implement interoperable EMR systems to enhance the privacy and security of patient data besides improving patient management and quality of care.

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Background

Advances in technology have improved the delivery of healthcare services electronically via the internet. A research on the topic hence is the basis for designing efficient EMR systems in the wake of technological innovations. Communication technology and mobile digital information, in particular, improve at an exponential rate and thus a potential to transform m-health and e-health (Hollis et al., 2015). These digital platforms support a variety of devices, including remote monitoring tools, mobile phones, and other wireless devices. In the United Kingdom, for instance, more than 43% of citizens who have attained the age of majority use the internet and wireless devices to seek health-related information (Hollis et al., 2015). Also, about 73% of UK citizens above 18 years can access high-speed internet daily, with 72% of them buying goods and services online (Hollis et al., 2015). These trends indicate that the United Kingdom is progressing in terms of health literacy and therefore, an opportunity to use the available data to implement interoperable electronic medical records.

Historically, the analysis of EMR tools has been proposed as an efficient way of identifying psychiatric disorders in large patient populations (Simon & Perlis, 2010). It is also a means to characterize the outcomes that underpin clinical trials in pharmacovigilance studies. The applications of EMR, therefore, provides unique opportunities for the researchers to utilize efficient, large scale clinical investigations underlying behavioral treatment in psychiatry. According to Perlis et al. (2012), electronic medical records provide tools that could identify subgroups for biomarkers studies, especially in targeted clinical trials. Notably, the usefulness of interoperable EMR in research outweighs billing data, which offer little precision in terms of diagnosis and analysis of the outcomes of psychiatric disorders.

While electronic medical records support large scale clinical investigations in psychiatry, there are needs to develop efficient tools to define the treatment outcomes. This tool, according to Perlis et al. (2012), has been improved to reflect clinical practice besides to enhance its feasibility and efficiency in behavioral healthcare settings. In this way, researchers have developed computational methods to improve interoperability and the effectiveness of EMR in clinical and psychiatric investigations (Perlis et al., 2012). Such computational methods are designed to extract clinical data from historical notes underlying electronic medical records.

The diversity and complexity of behavioral care settings preclude the implementation of interoperable EMR systems. The reality is that these organizations should select EMR tools that meet the diverse needs of various behavioral health segments. As such, in-depth research on the topic improves the understanding of EMR tools and how professionals can best formulate interoperable systems. An efficient, EMR platform, in this case, should have an excellent ability to collect and store the patient data electronically. It should also enhance the availability of clinical data to multi-disciplinary providers besides providing clinicians with reliable digital decision support tools. Besides the value of EMR technology to behavioral care providers, it provides useful information that enables the patients to understand their mental health.

Neter and Brainin (2012) noted that people who are eHealth literate tend to consume information from various internet sites to improve their health outcomes. Conversely, those who are less eHealth literate do not scrutinize information that they can access over the internet. Accordingly, there is a need to formulate interoperable EMR systems to support such people consume the right information as they seek behavioral treatment.

Why the topic should be researched

Research on EMR interoperability is critical, especially for organizations that treat behavioral disorders that result from substance use. Nonetheless, there is an increasing rate of EMR adoption in various healthcare settings, but its impact on behavioral health treatment is poorly understood (Matthews, 2017). As such, it is necessary to research this topic since it is the basis to enhance knowledge about interoperable EMR systems. It also enables researchers to identify barriers to the implementation of efficient EMR systems and thus, one way to meet the expectations of different groups of behavioral health segments.

The research topic should be studied in-depth to gain more insights into how EMR systems can be optimized within the context of behavioral healthcare. The existing EMR tools enable healthcare professionals to share electronic information among themselves and with their patients. Behavioral care is varied in nature, and for this reason, an in-depth investigation of the research topic will enable the stakeholders to optimize EMR as an approach to meet the needs of different segments. In this way, it is necessary to study the subject as a basis to extend meaningful use of EMR in various behavioral health facilities.

Rationale and Motivation for the Research

The previous studies, according to Matthews (2017), indicate that the impacts of EMR in the delivery of mental health treatment remain poorly understood. This situation exists despite an increasing rate of EMR adoption in other segments of healthcare delivery (Matthews, 2017). This research, therefore, seeks to address such a gap in the literature by investigating the opportunities that underpin EMR interoperability in behavioral healthcare. Arguably, people suffering from psychiatric disorders experience numerous challenges as they seek treatment from various behavioral care facilities. There are needs to design EMR systems that enable treating physicians in different healthcare facilities to access patient information from a central point.

Dechene (2009) noted that the cost associated with unnecessary and duplicative patient information is a critical problem in psychiatric treatment. In this way, the research seeks to investigate how behavioral health care facilities can implement an integrated EMR model that minimizes costs by centralizing the patient's medical history. The study addresses this gap by examining three features that characterize the interoperability of electronic medical records. First, it evaluates the effectiveness of EMR to collect and store patient data in a central location electronically. Secondly, it focuses on how the system can be improved to enhance its ability to disseminate clinical data to multiple stakeholders. Thirdly, it explores how the capacity of EMR to provide healthcare professionals with computerized decision support tools.

Another motivation for the research is to address barriers to the implementation of efficient EMR in treating substance use disorders. Hence, this study supports behavioral health by researching how the interoperability of EMR can be enhanced in terms of coordination, communication, and delivery of mental care. Psychologists play essential roles in supporting the development and implementation of EMR systems in mental health settings.

Research Goals and Objectives

The primary research objective of this study is to investigate the opportunities and the benefits of implementing an interoperable EMR in behavioral care settings. The other goals are:

• To evaluate the ability of electronic medical records to collect essential patient information and store it electronically.
• To investigate the capacity of EMR tools to disseminate clinical information to a wide range of healthcare providers in mental care settings.
• To evaluate the efficiency of electronic medical records to provide digital tools that support clinicians to make essential decisions.

Research Questions

Electronic medical records are beneficial to both healthcare personnel and consumers (Hillestad et al., 2005). Nonetheless, progress will be slow or even halted, where the EMR users are not as apt to utilize these benefits. Factors that may adversely influence the implementation of EMR systems in behavioral care facilities besides the lack of evidence on the best approaches to solve such issues should be addressed (Huerta, 2015). As a result, two primary research questions for this study are developed:

• What are the benefits of enhancing the interoperability of EMR in mental care settings?
• What are the key factors of EMR interoperability that should be considered when optimizing treatment of substance use and other related disorders in behavioral care settings?

Scope of Research

The research is conducted to assess the benefits and opportunities that various groups of behavioral care stakeholders can gain primarily by enhancing the interoperability of EMR technology. Also, the research strives to investigate the key factors that the managers in behavioral care facilities should implement to improve the interoperability of their EMR technologies. The study is narrowed down to behavioral care facilities since the influence of EMR in this field is poorly understood. The study is conducted in various mental care clinics, including extensive psychiatric healthcare facilities such as Broadmoor Hospital and Leavesden Mental Hospital. The study, therefore, exploits research opportunities that arise from gaps in the literature. In this perspective, two research questions are formulated to guide the researcher.

Participants in the Study

The study incorporates participants from various behavioral health stakeholders as a strategy to gain more insights into the interoperability of EMR. In this perspective, the respondents are drawn from clinical staff and doctors since they have an in-depth understanding of EMR tools. These participants are also knowledgeable since they have access to a wide range of EMR information that is available to multi-disciplinary providers. The other respondents are patients, EMR vendors, and officials from the public ministry. The research, in this case, involves 21 respondents from various groups of stakeholders in the behavioral care settings. The study utilizes the purposive sampling to pick the participants that have a proper understanding of EMR. This method, according to Palinkas et al. (2015), is essential since it enables researchers to incorporate respondents that have adequate knowledge of the phenomenon of interest. Thus, the study uses purposive sampling as an approach...