The state of behavioral health and mental health services is changing, as we see a growing demand for help while the physical locations where treatment is normally made available are severely limited to avoid spreading the disease to healthy patients.

As we strive to preserve people’s physical health and well-being during the pandemic of the novel coronavirus, it’s important to recognize COVID-19’s impact on mental health as well. The behavioral health/mental health industry is already seeing a major spike because of COVID-19 limiting individuals’ ability to see therapists or participate in group meetings.

These days, crowded waiting rooms and patients walking past one another on their way to examination rooms is becoming a health risk in its own right. The spiking cases of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 infections has led countries to formulate policies about social distancing. The idea is to minimize the chance of infected individuals being able to spread the virus.

As the world reacts to the growing threat of the new coronavirus, healthcare workers are on the front lines of the effort to combat this disease, safeguarding the population while also striving to protect their own health with limited supplies (including masks) while hospitals fear shortages of ICU beds and ventilators.

Today in the United States, behavioral health practices of all sizes continue to operate using old-fashioned paper-based systems or generic office software that does little to help them keep their work organized and flowing efficiently.

With the new year come some changes in the healthcare industry that you and your colleagues will need to pay strict attention to in terms of prescription drugs and how physicians handle their usage when making electronic prescriptions. Of particular interest are some new mandates coming into effect this year that will influence the e-prescription landscape.

How much thought do you give to the various computer systems that have been set up to enable staff to keep track of and manage patient data as well as communicate and connect with other entities, such as insurance providers and referring physicians? While the computer setup is the main concern for your IT department, being aware of how these systems connect and work together is a matter of importance for everyone on staff regardless of their position. To that end, healthcare organizations must stay aware of interoperability and how it supports their team as well as the patients they serve.

The number of patients seeking health care for mental health issues from your organization seems to be increasing as of late, prompting you and fellow stakeholders to consider options for expanding service. Or, you are aware of changes in regional demographics and you have determined that many patients struggling with mental health are too far away for you to realistically provide service on an ongoing basis.

You and fellow stakeholders at your medical organization have done your due diligence and determined that now is the time to switch over from an antiquated paper-based system for handling patient information and are now ready to deploy Electronic Health Records software. However, before you choose a vendor and EHR system to install, there are potential issues that you should be aware of. In particular, it’s prudent to consider security problems, reductions in data flow, the need for extra staff training, and the prospect of slowdowns for novices when inputting patient data in the first place.

President Trump just signed into law the “Special Registration for Telemedicine Act of 2018” (the Act), requiring the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to activate a special registration allowing physicians and nurse practitioners to prescribe controlled substances via telemedicine without an in-person exam. The DEA has no more than one year to complete the task.