Leverage behavioral health data to provide well-rounded care

YoungAs healthcare providers aim to deliver holistic care, they are seeking information outside of traditional clinical sources to better understand patients, appreciate their medication and health history and provide more targeted and effective treatment. One specific type of information gaining importance is behavioral health data, including background on mental health conditions, substance abuse treatment and crisis intervention.

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Historically, behavioral health data hasn’t been part of the clinical medical record, yet this information has strong potential to help providers more accurately predict health behaviors and furnish comprehensive, holistic care.

The advantages of behavioral health data

Oftentimes, mental health conditions are closely intertwined with physical ailments. If not treated together, the patient may suffer unnecessarily from either or both perspectives.

Patients with behavioral health issues frequently have multiple comorbidities-diabetes and depression, for instance. If a provider treats the patient’s diabetes without addressing the depression, the patient may skip or delay insulin doses, facing setbacks on both fronts.

Conversely, if a provider responds to the patient’s depression but does not consider the diabetes, the patient can suffer negative physical outcomes, which can exacerbate the depression. The scenario can quickly degenerate into a vicious cycle, repeatedly leading the patient back to the hospital and stalling his or her recovery.

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Accessing behavioral health information can be especially beneficial when prescribing medication. As a clinical health provider considers how to pharmacologically treat a patient’s physical condition, making the right choice can be difficult if the physician does not have a full appreciation of all of the individual’s medications.

Unless the patient shares information on behavioral health prescriptions-anti-depressants, anti-psychotics or anxiety treatments, for example-the physician can inadvertently order a medication that conflicts with the other drugs. As a result, one medication could limit or cancel the effects of the other or even cause a negative reaction. At the very least, the provider could unknowingly deliver an ineffective intervention. The worst case would be he or she actually causing patient harm.

The emergency department (ED) is another logical place to weave behavioral health data into the patient’s medical picture. When an individual comes to the ED acting abnormally, it can be helpful to know his or her mental health history to understand whether any manner changes are due to a physical ailment or a more underlying condition that warrants attention.

 

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