The rapid global adoption of telemedicine may have arisen from an urgent situation, but due to its advantages, many behavioral health practices are continuing to use it even as they see patients in person again. Hybrid environments greatly benefit from an EHR system that’s tailored to the facility. The secure and accessible platform will help you streamline and expand your practice. Understanding what to expect from this system will help you find one that meets your specific needs.
At a minimum, a behavioral health EHR system should digitize your clinical records and track patient care electronically. You can also expect practice management tools to be integrated into the platform, along with prescription writing, mobile access, patient portals, and other features.
Accessing documentation, including those from other treatment team members, is dramatically easier with digital records. Approved users can access this information from anywhere, which is especially helpful when team members work from home. It simplifies the referral process and enhances continuity of care. Digitizing health records also provides a level of security not offered by physical record-keeping.
Telehealth capabilities are an essential aspect of any behavioral health EHR platform. They provide patients with far greater access to services than in-person care. It’s also equally as effective as in-person therapy, and the patient retention rate is higher. Teletherapy applications should be compatible with all devices to make them accessible to everyone. This feature alone will broaden your market reach and make therapy possible for more people.
Behavioral health EHR systems usually include a range of psychological assessments that you can assign patients to complete as needed. The practice of regularly administering assessments and tracking patients’ mental status over time, known as measurement-based care, is becoming increasingly popular as studies show it can lead to improved outcomes across a wide range of different therapies. Certain mental and behavioral health EHR systems, such as CarePaths, log this data automatically, enabling you to fine-tune each patient’s care.
EHR systems designed to operate in tandem with e-prescription services will streamline prescribing, either from your computer or phone. Medication details are included in the patient record, and since other providers can view this information, it helps avoid overlap of services and contraindications.
Practice management tools available with most behavioral health EHR systems include integrated billing and claims functions, automated appointment reminders, and patient portals. Patients can request appointments, complete paperwork, take assessments, and send messages via portals. Patient portals increase patient engagement and adherence to treatment plans and are associated with positive feelings about treatment.
There are a few things to check for when looking at behavioral health EHR systems in terms of certifications and privacy. The federal government has implemented several acts and incentive programs to encourage providers to implement digitized record-keeping.
Behavioral health EHR systems should meet the requirements for HIPAA compliance. Access controls, like password protections, PINs, and authentication procedures, should be standard features. Data encryption should also be part of the platform’s security measures.
Health information systems should be certified by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology. This certification is a federally supported program that evaluates data portability, the ability to interact with other EHR systems, and the security of health IT programs. The criteria for certification evolve as new legislation is passed, with the latest being the 21st Century Cures Act. A behavioral health EHR vendor’s website typically indicates its year of certification and the most recent date it’s been confirmed. The more recent, the more updated the software is in terms of regulatory compliance and interoperability.
Teletherapy is a considerable convenience that opens up the possibility of behavioral healthcare to many people who would otherwise be unable to access it. The ability to attend a session from home appeals to many clients because of the privacy that it affords. When done through integrated behavioral health EHR systems, these appointments are encrypted and conducted over a secure connection.
Behavioral health EHR systems should include a standardized application programming interface (API). The portability of information from one EHR platform to another is essential to the continuity of care and is a requirement for ONC certification. An API enables applications to communicate with each other. In this way, it also enables health organizations to share their application data and functionality with providers outside the practice or facility and those within their systems.
If your hybrid practice chooses a behavioral health EHR subscription, you can be confident about maintaining regulatory compliance. For example, when a platform supports integrated billing and insurance functions, you can easily send good faith estimates to uninsured patients or automatically request updated signatures on HIPAA notifications.
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!
