Balancing data privacy with data sharing<\/p>\n
Additional factors, including legal concerns and patient consent agreements, also contribute to data silos. Mitigating data-sharing issues and ensuring EHRs are optimally used requires strong data governance practices, clear policies on sharing data, well-defined consent workflows, and robust staff training.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The behavioral health sector would benefit from a clearer federal privacy policy definition that harmonizes with interoperability standards to define exactly how, when, and with whom to share sensitive behavioral health and substance use data. For example, privacy law<\/a> requires the redaction of sensitive diagnoses. However, when medications are prescribed, if renal or liver insufficiency goes unchecked for someone with an unshared history of alcoholism or substance use, risk increases.<\/p>\n Until privacy concerns are resolved, facilities and providers must actively create a culture where appropriate data sharing is part of daily operations. It\u2019s important to empower informatics staff members who understand the health and legal landscape to lead the charge and encourage informed, responsible decisions about how to manage and share sensitive data. Adopting systems that adhere to federal standards for health data exchange makes it easier to securely and accurately share information. However, buying a system that can share data is just the beginning \u2014 EHRs must be used in a way that fosters interoperability.<\/p>\n U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) data-sharing initiatives\u00a0<\/p>\n CMS has made progress in improving interoperability. For example, CMS Conditions of Participation require hospitals, including psychiatric hospitals, to send admission, discharge, and transfer<\/a> notices to all relevant care providers. In theory, this should help inpatient behavioral health patients receive timely post-discharge follow-up care from service providers they have seen previously. However, it\u2019s often unclear who should be alerted, since many behavioral health patients lack primary care providers, and many community agencies lack systems that can subscribe to the information. Too often, there isn\u2019t anyone receiving a notice who can help coordinate follow-up care. Consequently, patients often fail to receive the care they need to remain successful in less restrictive care settings, or fail to get the support services they need in the community.<\/p>\n Coordination of care is even more difficult when health systems can\u2019t communicate with each other. Data sharing exists between some entities, but it\u2019s a fragmented patchwork, hampered by legacy systems that silo data and lack interoperability features, or can\u2019t talk to each other because they lack either secure exchange network infrastructure or formal data-sharing agreements.<\/p>\n Federal efforts to support exchange networks<\/p>\n Federal efforts aimed at achieving the goal of creating comprehensive nationwide health information exchange networks are finally showing results. A nationwide \u201cnetwork of networks\u201d overseen by the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement<\/a> (TEFCA) for Qualified Health Information Networks <\/a>(QHIN) leverages EHR interoperability regulatory requirements for data standards that can then be securely exchanged. Once completed, certified EHR systems will be able to connect and share data.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n While this work is critical to solving some of the information gaps across organizations that lead to delays and disconnected care, it won\u2019t be a panacea for behavioral health providers who have largely been left out of federal EHR incentive programs. Behavioral health data can only be shared if facilities and providers have modern certified EHR solutions and are offered a clear path to join the QHIN networks.\u00a0<\/p>\n Eliminating behavioral health data silos<\/p>\n Behavioral healthcare is a team effort, and its supporting EHR systems must both be designed for collaboration within an organization and be engineered for next-level interoperability with external agencies to deliver on the promise of continuity of care across the often winding path of the patient journey toward stabilization and recovery.\u00a0<\/p>\n A combined bottom-up facility-level approach to integrated data and a top-down national-level effort for connected networks is needed to eliminate data silos and deliver frictionless care. Fortunately, there are innovative next-generation EHR solutions that were built to serve behavioral health to connect your siloed data with external data systems via emerging nationwide interoperability networks.<\/p>\n Picture: Benjavisa, Getty Images<\/p>\n Deanne Clark<\/a> is a Senior Health Informatics Consultant for Juno Health<\/a>, with more than 20 years of leadership experience in designing, configuring, deploying, and supporting health IT systems nationwide, including within state behavioral health, state public health, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and private sector settings. She is passionate about discovering synergies at the intersection of policy, innovative health information technology tools, and human-centered design for the optimization of clinical workflows, improvement of population health outcomes, and attainment of health equity for underserved communities.<\/p>\n This Fulbright Award recipient\u2019s research and analysis roots underscore her commitment to continuous process improvement, make her a tireless client advocate, and fuel her interest in leveraging emerging technologies from advances in health information exchange to artificial intelligence. Outside of her professional role, you\u2019ll find her seeking adventure, from exploring new destinations, to sailing, and spending time in nature..<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Deanne-headshot-150x150.jpeg\")
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