Behavioral Health

AKAIMS

Alaska's Automated Information Management System

History and Progress


The Alaska Automated Information Management System project was initiated in February 2003 to take advantage of a SAMHSA Center for Substance Abuse Treatment project promoting collaboration and use of technology among state and local government substance abuse treatment agencies. At that time, as part of Alaska’s initiative to integrate its mental health and substance abuse agencies into the Division of Behavioral Health, the Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse (ADA) and the Division of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities (DMHDD) elected to launch a joint project that built on the CSAT project (the Web Infrastructure for Treatment Services - WITS) to create a single, web-based application and database that would meet reporting requirements for behavioral health provider grantees and provide basic capabilities for clinical information management not previously available.

The project officially started in February of 2003, when the State awarded a contract to Westat (national WITS project manager for CSAT). The first AKAIMS Steering Committee meeting was held in March 2003 to kick off the review process necessary to adapt WITS to Alaska’s unique needs. The Steering Committee consists of a cross-section from various behavioral health care services stakeholder groups: the Division of Behavioral Health (DBH), the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority (AMHTA), the Alaska Behavioral Health Association (ABHA), the Substance Abuse Directors’ Association (SADA) and other interested behavioral health related policy-making groups, and, providers themselves.

AKAIMS is a “free”, evolving, web-based application and database that serves dual purposes, a management information system (MIS) and clinical documentation tool. As an MIS tool, the system allows the Division to meet current and emerging State and Federal reporting requirements, such as State Quarterly Reporting, TEDS, GPRA, NOMS and MH/SA Block Grant. As a clinical documentation tool, AKAIMS provides an agency the ability to create a full Electronic Medical Record (EMR) compliant with HIPAA and 42-CFR part II standards. Providers have the ability to assess patients, administer facilities, manage waitlists and collect outcome measurement data in real-time via a secure, web-based framework.

In parallel, DBH is supporting an effort for those providers who have existing clinical information systems, to allow the submission of required data from those systems through an electronic data interchange (EDI) mechanism to the Data Repository. This effort allows providers to maintain their own information technology investments while still being fully compliant with state and federal reporting requirements.

AKAIMS and the Data Repository represent a key part of the transition to a behavioral health model for the state. Support for the State’s Behavioral Health Integration Project (BHIP), lowering the burden of Medicaid compliance, solving longstanding reporting issues, and the sharing of best practices with other WITS Collaboration Partnership states have all come about because of the commitment and hard work of state and provider staff across the behavioral health treatment system. We look forward to this continuing transformation, furthering Alaska’s role as a national leader, supporting the recovery of persons with behavioral health treatment needs through innovations in practice and technology.