An important tool in improving quality is the availability and use of information technology. We know that the EHR offers critical support to the service improvement process; promotes the application of protocols and guidelines; helps to maintain contact with individuals who move through a complex system and who are hospitalized in local or state hospitals, lose stable housing, or become entangled in the criminal justice system; and holds the promise to reduce the enormous financial burden of paperwork and reporting duplication, all efficiencies that improve the quality of services.

"Adoption of the Electronic Health Record is expected to reduce healthcare costs by up to 20 percent, significantly cutting back on the approximately 25 cents of every healthcare dollar that is now spent on record keeping and administrivia," according to James Kretz, MA, a senior survey statistician at SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health Services.

But behavioral healthcare organizations seeking to implement the EHR are often challenged by lack of funding and the complex demands of multiple payer and reporting systems.

Resources for Electronic Health Records
Special edition of National Council newsletter on the Electronic Health Record featuring expert perspectives and provider successes and challenges, December 2006.

National Council-MHCA-SATVA paper, Planning Your EHR System--Guidelines for Executive Management.