Shopping for an EHR system may seem overwhelming initially, but certain considerations will make the process smoother. Assessing your practice’s needs and understanding how to compare behavioral health EHR vendors will vastly improve the experience of shopping for a platform for your organization.
The needs of therapy practices and psychiatric clinics vary significantly from those of traditional medical clinics. You must look for a platform designed specifically for behavioral health, ideally one created with input from behavioral health professionals.
Questions to Get You Started
Identifying what’s essential to your practice or facility and knowing who will use the system is crucial to finding the right behavioral health EHR system. In any medical setting, administrative functions require coordination with the clinical side. The addition of practice management software to EHR systems dramatically simplifies this process.
- Who will use your behavioral health EHR platform?
- Clinicians and administrative staff are the most common users of EHR systems. While charting and notes storage are fundamental features of any EHR platform, automated and integrated administrative workflow processes reduce administrative time and the potential for error.
- If your facility trains many interns or utilizes medical school students, you may want to look for vendors that offer student discounts.
- What is your budget and how do you prefer to pay?
- While buying a platform outright may appeal to those just starting out or with small budgets, a one-time purchase can mean the software eventually becomes outdated. Asking the vendor about its approach to updating its software with current standards is crucial.
- The trend is for EHR systems to be subscription services, and the fees are typically charged per user. Subscription services include automatic software and security updates. If you’re using a behavioral health EHR system to assist your office in maintaining compliance with various industry and federal healthcare regulations, a subscription service may be more appropriate for you.
- If you practice within a nonprofit setting, looking for vendors offering reduced rates for 501(c)(3) organizations could save you money.
- Do you want data stored on-site or remotely?
- Software as a Service is a secure option that increases the accessibility of information for you and your staff. If you work with other healthcare organizations, how important is it for your records to be transferable to their platforms?
- How much emphasis do you place on customization?
- Different behavioral health EHR vendors offer different levels of customization, from designing your own progress notes and treatment plans to formatting the bills.
- Which clinical assessments are offered?
- Your assessment needs will vary if you typically see children and adolescents rather than older adults. Knowing which measurement tools you find most useful will help you recognize a vendor that offers what you need.
- Do you need a mobile app? Are you working from a Windows-based system, or does your organization use macOS? What kind of internet connection does your practice use?
- Knowing your hardware and network capabilities and limitations simplifies the process of finding the right behavioral EHR platform.
Comparing Behavioral Health EHR Vendors
Now that you have a better idea of what your practice needs, look at the different vendors. What’s essential in a behavioral health EHR platform? What add-ons are available?
- Charting and coordinating care may seem like basic features, but some behavioral health EHR platforms allow more customization of therapy notes and treatment plan templates than others.
- Teletherapy increases access to behavioral health services and encourages patient engagement. Behavioral health EHR vendors typically offer this as part of their basic service. Therapy via messaging, however, may be an add-on.
- Many behavioral health EHR systems include billing/insurance coordination with clinical information, which reduces error and increases timeliness.
- Patient portals reduce administrative workload, streamline aspects of measurement-based care, and have positive psychological impacts on patients. Patients can also request appointments, send messages to their therapist, and complete assessments from the comfort of their homes. These features are easy to administer through these portals, and changes are simple to track over time.
- When shopping for a behavioral health EHR platform, find a vendor with ONC Certification. It was developed to support the coordination of care through the secure adoption of healthcare IT. Certification is tied to federal incentivization programs, like Medicaid or Medicare, and ONC requirements focus on security, interoperability, regulatory compliance, and data portability.
- Most platforms allow add-ons that tailor their program to your practice’s needs beyond the usual features.
- Prescription services can be tied into EHRs if they are not included in the platform itself. This enables psychiatrists to easily e-prescribe and document it.
- Mobile capabilities often provide a “front door” application and enable patients to schedule initial appointments and complete paperwork via their smartphones.
Here at CarePaths, we help therapists work more effectively and improve patient outcomes. To learn more about how we can help you, start your free trial today!
