What would you call a physician who sewed up a patient’s wound without addressing the depression, bipolar disorder or other behavioral health issue that led to the injury? We might cynically label the doctor disinterested or inattentive; we might sympathetically call her distracted or overwhelmed.
But it might be far more accurate to say the doctor lacks information. With access to the patient’s complete health record when he came into the emergency department (ED), she could have known of his mental health challenges and moved swiftly to coordinate appropriate treatment.
Nationwide, the patchwork nature of mental health care—most mental health hospitals lack electronic health records (EHRs)—drives up overall health care costs primarily through expensive emergency department (ED) visits by people who present with apparent mental health challenges.
