With demand exploding for behavioral health treatment, therapy practices are busier than ever. Providers are looking for ways to run their practices efficiently and profitably, and an increasing number is turning to technology for answers. Behavioral health EHR platforms can automate workflow, optimize the front-door process, and make everyday operations more efficient. Here are six key strategies for streamlining your behavioral health practice so you can focus on patient care.
Minimize Time Spent on Scheduling Scheduling appointments can be time-consuming and cumbersome. Practitioners or their office managers can easily find themselves slogging through a stack of voicemails requesting appointments, calling each patient back, and going back and forth to find a time and day that works for everyone. A behavioral health EHR platform with integrated practice management software can dramatically improve this situation. Patients schedule appointments through the app or online, and the details automatically populate your calendar. The system will also send reminders to patients, which will significantly reduce no-shows.
Keep Organized Notes Modern therapy is offered through many modalities. Keeping your clinical notes in one place can get challenging when you conduct a video session with a patient from home one week and see them in person the next. However, a generic cloud-based program for documentation doesn’t offer the security required for a behavioral health practice. Fortunately, an ONC-certified behavioral EHR system ensures that your patients’ information, from billing details to therapy notes, stays safe in a HIPAA-compliant environment.
Avoid Billing Pitfalls in Your Behavioral Health Practice Billing is your bottom line as a mental health provider, impacting the time spent on everything from seeing patients to paying the bills. Accurate, efficient billing practices are essential to the health of your behavioral health practice, and documentation is a vital part of getting it right. Since insurers often determine how long therapy should take, how many sessions patients get, and what treatments are appropriate for specific diagnoses, your notes must be organized and clear to support your services. Manual billing requires high attention to detail and often requires spending hours on the phone with insurers. However, when you use a behavioral health EHR platform, charges post directly from your finished progress notes. You can also easily confirm patient eligibility through the EHR platform. Patients will know their expected contribution before their session by entering their information into the patient portal, and they can then easily pay their portion online. Payments from patients and insurance companies are posted automatically with Electronic Remittance Advice. A comprehensive behavioral health EHR platform also means you have experts on-call for support with claims and technical issues.
Be Empowered by Patient Portals Patient portals are web-based applications that enable patients to interact with your office in between appointments. These tools are well-established as benefiting patient engagement, perception of the therapeutic alliance, and adherence to treatment plans. They also reduce therapists’ administrative workload. Providers can assign patients diagnostically appropriate assessments to gain further insights and track patient progress over time, so implementing measurement-based care is a straightforward process. Finally, as patients continue therapy, patient portals reduce the phone time spent dealing with rescheduling, simple questions, and refill requests.
Simplify the Referral Process Behavioral health EHR systems can streamline the referral process because a comprehensive platform like CarePaths gives you the opportunity to create a digital front door. The platform will list your profile on the web and through the app, reaching thousands of potential clients looking for a therapist. Your profile will also be linked to the insurance programs that you’re a provider for, so you can expect to receive more in-network referrals. The platform’s interoperability enables your practice to share information digitally with other facilities across all areas of healthcare when you need to refer a patient to another provider.
Know Your Trends Running reports may not seem like a worthwhile investment of your time if you or your staff are manually entering data. However, the variety of reports offered by a behavioral health EHR platform empowers you to grow your business and treat your patients in the way that you deem best. Setting up automatic assessments for your patients to complete gives you a fuller picture of their symptoms, and you can run reports that show their responses over time in an easy-to-read visual display. Then, you can review it with them to discuss whether their symptoms are improving. Data like this empowers patients and providers to adjust treatment plans in response to how therapy is working. A comprehensive behavioral health EHR platform will provide you with the information that you need to make your practice successful. A financial plan is essential to any private practice, and documentation will help you stay on track. Generate revenue reports to monitor your practice’s growth, check off accomplished financial goals, and catch any issues before they become problematic.
Streamline Your Behavioral Health Practice with CarePaths
Recent shifts toward seeing patients in person and via telemedicine highlight the need for comprehensive EHR software. A behavioral health EHR system engages patients in their treatment from the moment that they initiate services and gives you ready access to their histories, assessments, reports, and progress notes. Whether you’re a single practitioner running your own practice or the manager of a multi-location organization, an effective EHR platform integrated with practice management will streamline your process and free up your time.
At CarePaths, we help therapists work more efficiently and empower them to manage their practice their way by offering online therapy services, online scheduling, appointment reminders, secure messaging, and more. Learn how we can help you get up and running fast. Start your free trial today!
