Electronic health records: essential tools in integrating substance abuse treatment with primary care.
Abstract
While substance use problems are considered to be common in medical settings, they
are not systematically assessed and diagnosed for treatment management. Research data
suggest that the majority of individuals with a substance use disorder either do not
use treatment or delay treatment-seeking for over a decade. The separation of substance
abuse services from mainstream medical care and a lack of preventive services for
substance abuse in primary care can contribute to under-detection of substance use
problems. When fully enacted in 2014, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
2010 will address these barriers by supporting preventive services for substance abuse
(screening, counseling) and integration of substance abuse care with primary care.
One key factor that can help to achieve this goal is to incorporate the standardized
screeners or common data elements for substance use and related disorders into the
electronic health records (EHR) system in the health care setting. Incentives for
care providers to adopt an EHR system for meaningful use are part of the Health Information
Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act 2009. This commentary focuses on recent
evidence about routine screening and intervention for alcohol/drug use and related
disorders in primary care. Federal efforts in developing common data elements for
use as screeners for substance use and related disorders are described. A pressing
need for empirical data on screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment
(SBIRT) for drug-related disorders to inform SBIRT and related EHR efforts is highlighted.
Type
Journal articleSubject
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 2010brief intervention
electronic health records
primary care
screening
substance abuse treatment
substance use disorders
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/12086Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.2147/SAR.S22575Publication Info
Tai, Betty; Wu, Li-Tzy; & Clark, H Westley (2012). Electronic health records: essential tools in integrating substance abuse treatment
with primary care. Subst Abuse Rehabil, 3. pp. 1-8. 10.2147/SAR.S22575. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/12086.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Li-Tzy Wu
Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Education/Training: Pre- and post-doctoral training in mental health service research,
psychiatric epidemiology (NIMH T32), and addiction epidemiology (NIDA T32) from Johns
Hopkins University School of Public Health (Maryland); Fellow of the NIH Summer Institute
on the Design and Conduct of Randomized Clinical Trials.Director: Duke Community Based
Substance Use Disorder Research Program.Research interests: COVID-19, Opioid misuse,
Opioid overdose, Opioid use disorder

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