Email UpdatesThe Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) are launching an initiative to advance health information technology (IT) in behavioral health and practice settings. The project supports the HHS Roadmap for Behavioral Health Integration and is consistent with the President’s call to action to prevent, treat, and provide long-term recovery supports for mental illness and substance use disorders.
To address health IT challenges, the Behavioral Health Information Technology (BHIT) Initiative will identify and pilot a set of behavioral health-specific data elements to be coordinated via a new USCDI+ domain for behavioral health to improve the effectiveness and reduce the costs of data capture, use, and exchange for behavioral health providers. In addition, the ONC will develop a new behavioral health information resource to support behavioral healthcare and integrated practice settings for HHS grantees and the public.
The BHIT Initiative will advance health IT in behavioral health broadly across HHS programs, and beyond. There will be more updates and opportunities to engage and help inform this work. Sign up for email updates to get the latest on ONC’s activities. Also, see below for some Academy resources on health IT and telehealth: