Collaboration in the Presence of an Electronic Health Record

Recent laws in the United States incent healthcare practices to adopt electronic health records (EHRs). While there is extensive research related to EHRs generally, there is a dearth of EHR research specific to collaborative care settings. This study reports responses from 101 collaborative care offices who completed a 13-question online survey. The mixed-methods analysis provides insights as to the satisfaction, obstacles, and solutions to interdisciplinary collaboration in the presence of an EHR. Respondents reported highest satisfaction with medical billing, interdisciplinary communication, and scheduling. Satisfaction was lower as it relates to time consumption, difficult learning curve, creation of appointment notes, and health registries. This research reveals varied and conflicting approaches to addressing confidentiality and HIPAA within the EHR. Recommendations for improving EHR to better support collaborative care include the addition of modules common in mental health-specific EHR, enhanced tracking of mental health outcomes, templates for joint appointments, and improvements in population-based registry functions.