The Promise and Pitfalls of Electronic Health Records and Person-Centered Care Planning

Abstract

Person-Centered Care Planning is a recovery-oriented practice designed to meet the increasing demand to deliver person-centered care. Despite widespread dissemination efforts to train providers in person-centered care, behavioral health agencies are still struggling to implement person-centered care approaches. One of the barriers is poorly designed electronic health records that are not aligned to reflect the goal of providing individuals with meaningful choices and self-determination. The pitfalls of EHR design include service planning templates that rely on automated formats that are problem-driven and preclude the entry of unique information, whereas a well-designed EHR can become a key strategy for the delivery of person-centered care by having the functionality to reflect individual goals, actions, and natural supports. The promise and pitfalls of EHR design demonstrates the importance of having a treatment planning platform that allows providers to actualize person-centered care.