Behavioral Health and Electronic Health Records (EHRs) in the Age of AI
Behavioral health was historically overlooked in the development of electronic health records (EHRs), but with rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), a solution may finally emerge after decades of refinement.
While numerous EHR solutions exist for behavioral health practitioners, research indicates that these frameworks often come with documentation challenges. Adoption rates are influenced by internal organizational factors, such as financial constraints, technology, and workflow compatibility.
Despite these challenges, improvements through aggregator tools and other means have made clinical documentation systems more accessible. This accessibility benefits both payers and providers, enabling comparisons between groups and outcome assessments.
Miriam Ferreira, vice president of mental wellbeing at Aetna, notes that through partnerships with aggregators and the increasing availability of EHR tools, most providers now have access to clinical documentation systems. She adds that AI enables payers to identify high- and low-performing provider groups through documentation comparisons.
However, some providers fear that AI tools, when used by payers for audits, might create a standardized, potentially "cookie-cutter" approach to documentation. Brian Schenkemeyer, vice president of growth and client success at Aetna, suggests that providers should embrace AI for internal audits, as many groups are already doing so.
Conversations between Aetna and behavioral health providers have led to some high-volume provider groups incorporating new documentation recommendations into their EHR systems. Ferreira emphasizes the importance of careful consideration before adopting new EHR add-ons or solutions, citing concerns about AI-driven notes and overutilized codes.
What Clinicians Want from AI and EHRs
Despite these concerns, the prospect of an EHR tailored to the specific needs of behavioral health and addiction treatment providers, enhanced by AI capabilities, is mostly welcomed. Even by those who have recently navigated complex EHR system changes.
Michelle Hatfield, president and chief operations officer at Kindbridge, expresses this sentiment: "It needs to do everything from scheduling the appointment to writing the progress note to submitting the claim and to collections... I need to do the relational human thing where I can support you as a human to human, and the technology needs to do all the technology stuff."
Kindbridge offers virtual care for process addiction.