Get Inside Scoop on HIT and Psychiatry

APA's 2008 annual meeting will offer several opportunities to learn the latest about electronic health records (EHRs) and how they will impact psychiatry. All sessions will be held in the Washington Convention Center.

According to government agencies and health care experts, EHRs and other forms of health information technology have great potential to improve health care quality, improve communication and care coordination, and prevent medical errors. There is much activity on the national level to fulfill the goal proposed by President Bush for most Americans to have access to secure electronic health records by 2014.

Psychiatrist Robert Kolodner, M.D., national coordinator for health information technology in the Department of Health and Human Services, will chair the forum “Coming to the Table: Psychiatry and Information Technology” on Tuesday, May 6, from noon to 1:30 p.m. Kolodner and a series of panelists will address the risks and benefits of using health information technology for the treatment of psychiatric patients, describe how the national health information technology agenda impacts psychiatry, and identify opportunities to further advance psychiatry in the health information technology agenda.

Kolodner will also participate in a symposium on privacy issues and electronic health records along with several panelists. The session, titled “Privacy and Fraud Policies and Electronic Health Records,” will be held Wednesday, May 7, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

In addition, APA's Corresponding Committee on Electronic Health Records is sponsoring a workshop showcasing the experiences of psychiatrists currently using EHRs: “Electronic Health Records in Psychiatry: Experiences of Early Adopters.” It will be held Tuesday, May 6, from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. ▪