Integrated behavioral health is about more than sharing diagnoses. It ensures that every provider involved in a patient’s care sees the full clinical picture, especially when it comes to medications. Medication management is one of the most practical and high-impact advantages of integrating behavioral health and physical health information. It supports individual care and care at scale, creating more effective and efficient healthcare systems.
At the center of this work is medication reconciliation: aligning what behavioral health providers, primary care teams, hospitals, and pharmacies each know about a patient’s medications into a shared, real-time view. Without that shared view, care teams are forced to rely on phone calls, faxes, incomplete patient recall, and fragmented records, potentially increasing clinical risk, particularly in emergency situations.
Why Medication Reconciliation Matters
It’s not uncommon for patients to be unable to provide a complete or accurate medication history. They may forget names and dosages, leave the hospital unsure of what was prescribed, or fail to pick up medications altogether. Stigma may also prevent disclosure of behavioral health medications. In emergencies—when a patient is unconscious, impaired, or in crisis—providers may not be able to rely on the patient for information at all.
Integrated medication information through the qualified health information exchange, LANES, closes these gaps. A comprehensive medication list supports:
- Drug-to-drug interaction and contraindication checks
- Allergy verification
- Safer management of psychiatric medications
- Better continuity across care transitions
- Fewer preventable adverse events
How Medication Access Transforms Care
LANES provides authorized users with real-time access to medication data, bringing behavioral health and traditional healthcare information together into a unified, whole-person view to transform care and deliver a range of benefits.
- Reduces Unnecessary Emergency Department Visits
Incomplete medication histories are a common driver of avoidable emergency department (ED) visits. When ED clinicians cannot see a patient’s existing psychiatric or behavioral health medications, new prescriptions may conflict with current regimens, triggering adverse reactions or destabilization that result in repeat hospital visits.
Historically, hospitals working with county and city Departments of Mental Health (DMH) reconciled medications through phone calls and faxed records due to a lack of shared access. The process was slow, labor-intensive, and prone to gaps.
With LANES, hospital pharmacists and DMH pharmacists can now reference the same shared medication information. Instead of chasing records, they can identify contraindications early, coordinate directly, and intervene before a preventable complication escalates into another ED visit.
- Brings Pharmacists into the Care Team
Pharmacists are essential to safe medication management, yet they are often excluded from health information exchange access. LANES changes that dynamic by onboarding pharmacists within participating clinics, hospitals, and pharmacy organizations.
By enabling pharmacists to view comprehensive medication information alongside behavioral health and primary care providers, LANES reduces duplication of effort and strengthens continuity of care, particularly during transitions between inpatient and outpatient settings.
- Adds a Critical Layer: Pharmacy Fulfillment Data
Prescribing a medication does not guarantee it was picked up.
LANES includes pharmacy fulfillment data from participating health plans, offering visibility into whether prescriptions were filled. While not a definitive measure of adherence, this data provides a powerful signal that many providers otherwise lack.
Fulfillment data supports improved medication management across behavioral health populations, post-hospital transitions, and public health use cases where treatment compliance is essential for stabilization and safety.
- Supports Street Medicine and Housing Instability
Integrated medication management is especially critical for field-based care. DMH and street medicine providers use LANES in mobile settings, accessing medication information in real time while working in encampments or other community locations.
For individuals experiencing housing instability, medication lists are rarely accessible or up to date. Real-time access allows providers to confirm prescriptions, identify potential risks, and support continuity even when patients move between shelters, interim housing, or other temporary placements.
LANES also supports communicable disease monitoring and organizations working with vulnerable populations, where medication adherence directly impacts public health outcomes.
- Coordinates Substance Use Disorder Care
Substance use disorder (SUD) is often diagnosed in traditional healthcare settings but managed within behavioral health programs. Effective coordination requires visibility into medications such as Suboxone and other treatment-related prescriptions.
LANES supports care teams serving SUD-impacted populations by ensuring that medication information is available across settings. In emergency response scenarios, field providers carrying rescue medications benefit from immediate access to a patient’s medication context, enabling faster and safer interventions.
- Streamlines Disaster Efforts
Access to healthcare information—including patient medication details—is essential to protecting individual health and well-being during a disaster. During the 2025 wildfires, LANES was called on by the LA Department of Public Health to support public health nurses caring for evacuees. Through LANES, nurses were able to quickly access medication records and other critical information.
The LANES Difference
LANES pairs robust medication data with clinical workflow support, helping organizations identify the right users—including pharmacists and support staff—and embed reconciliation processes into existing systems.
Medication management should not be relegated to an administrative task. It is a frontline safeguard that protects patients, reduces avoidable utilization, and strengthens whole-person care. By integrating behavioral health and physical health medication data in real time, LANES helps close one of the most critical gaps in coordinated care.