Los Angeles - California’s mental health system looks to embark on an ambitious statewide effort to improve the delivery of health services through the adoption of health information technology. The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH) announced that it has awarded a contract to Outlook Associates to assist in the implementation of its Integrated Behavioral Health Information System (IBHIS), making significant improvements to the County’s health technology systems.
The announcement comes at the heels of Proposition 63, the Mental Health Services Act, which was recently approved by California voters to address the unmet needs of individuals with severe mental illness. Outlook Associates, LLC, a division of healthcare quality improvement organization Qualis Health, will help the Department in drafting specifications for the complex system, assist in its vendor selection process and oversee implementation.
Set to begin in late 2007, Los Angeles County and the DMH are planning a year-long system implementation and roll-out to convert disparate paper-based systems throughout the County’s provider network to an integrated and secure, HIPAA-compliant electronic medical records system. It is expected to help improve the overall quality of mental health services for nearly 200,000 patients in Los Angeles County.
“The IBHIS gives us the unique opportunity to truly transform the mental health service delivery system,” said Robert Greenless, PhD, chief information officer with the LA County Department of Mental Health. “This new system not only allows clinicians in various locations to track the care of the mentally ill, it will help minimize healthcare errors and reduce costs.”
The IBHIS will incorporate core clinical functionality with financial claims processing modules. Its many anticipated benefits include giving better access to secure client information, reducing costs and redundancies associated with paper medical record keeping and retrieval, providing managers with the necessary tools to manage and organize teams, improving the delivery of services to mental health clients, and helping to capture lost or deferred revenue.
“We applaud the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health and the leadership role it is taking to adopt health information technology,” said Patricia Lohman, president of Outlook Associates. “We are pleased at the opportunity to work with the Department as it leverages technology to improve healthcare for thousands of patients and bring greater efficiencies to the delivery system.”
About the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health
The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH) develops and coordinates mental health services to enable persons experiencing severe and disabling mental illnesses to access professional care and support services through a community-based provider network and treatment delivery system. Primary services include case management, inpatient care, outpatient services (including crisis intervention/emergency response), and day treatment programs provided through a network of contracted and county-operated mental health clinics and hospitals.
Using standards established by law and regulation, DMH reviews and monitors the clinical and fiscal performance of all service providers. Common technology and infrastructure (common health data and records) will help treatment teams safely deliver well-integrated and coordinated care.
About Outlook Associates
Outlook Associates was founded in 1991 with the goal of providing quality, ethical consulting services to health care organizations across the country. Their work contributes to the overall enhancement of national and regional health systems while promoting and supporting the improved health of individuals and communities.
