Behavioral health professionals work in various settings, from small practices to extensive rehabilitation and long-term care facilities. A robust behavioral health EHR must consider the specific needs of these environments.
For example, a centralized communication portal allows therapists to collaborate on assessments and treatment plans with multiple team members. Other necessary features include telehealth support, automated patient reminders, and billing options tailored to mental health.
Patient Portal
Patient portals allow patients to complete tasks they’d typically have to wait until their next office visit, such as scheduling, payment information, and education materials. It saves your staff time and reduces no-shows.
Look for behavioral health EHR software with a customizable patient portal. You want to be sure the prospective system’s portal is user-friendly and accessible through multiple devices. Also, consider how well the system accounts for disparities in age, digital literacy, and internet access so that all patients can use the portal.
A patient portal with billing integration can significantly help your behavioral health practice. It removes unnecessary frustration for physicians and patients and frees time for other things, like insurance verification and claim processing.
Telehealth
Healthcare facilities aim to achieve excellent patient treatment as their primary goal. Any mistakes in spelling, grammar, and punctuation are corrected. However, daily routine, huge caseloads, and billing issues can quickly get in the way. Behavioral health software minimizes distractions and helps staffers focus on the task.
Look for a vendor that offers telehealth capabilities. This feature lets you conduct therapy sessions with patients remotely using video conferencing. That makes it easier for patients to access care and reduces no-show rates.
Behavioral health EHR software should include built-in electronic rating scales and assessments like the PHQ-9. It means you can spend less time entering data and more time evaluating client progress. It should also come with DSM code capability, allowing you to select from a list of suggested codes at each encounter.
E-Prescribing
E-prescribing makes it easy to record the details of a medication prescription. It eliminates the need for patients to bring handwritten prescriptions and enables providers to track if medicine is being picked up.
A Behavioral Health software platform should allow physicians to generate electronic lab orders. It saves staff time and allows a patient to be seen more quickly.
The right behavioral health software will also provide ICD/CPT codes specific to mental and Behavioral Health practice. It simplifies billing and improves coding accuracy.
A Behavioral Health EHR should also have comprehensive clinical functionality that addresses comorbidities. It can include a centralized note system, group therapy documentation, and Hospital-Based Inpatient Psychiatric Services (HBIPS) reporting. It allows physicians to focus on what matters most: excellent patient treatment.
Integrations
Behavioral health practitioners often work in many environments, including private offices, large inpatient rehabilitation centers, and long-term care facilities. The right EHR software can help streamline workflow and eliminate paperwork so that the focus can be on excellent patient treatment.
PIMSY’s EHR software includes standard EHR features such as team notes, treatment plans, and practice management tools like schedules. The system also tracks employee credentials and provides reports that allow therapists to see their progress over time.
A successful Behavioral Health EHR software can go beyond essential record keeping and incorporate tools that improve administrative processes for the clinical practice, such as billing integrations. It decreases repetitive tasks and allows the staff to focus on patient care. Additionally, this can increase revenue for the practice and improve outcomes.
Customization
As a medical professional, you can use custom behavioral health templates to enhance your practice’s EHR. These can be used for psychiatric SOAP notes, counseling sessions, addiction treatment, psychotherapy, and more.
Behavioral health is an area of specialization requiring unique software features to manage patient care. For example, there’s bound to be a difference between forms that go to a psychiatrist and those that need to be submitted to a community treatment facility or psychosocial rehabilitation professional.
Behavioral healthcare providers need a streamlined system that allows them to work from anywhere, including patients’ homes or hospitals. A good psychiatry and psychology practice management software must support mobile device usage to do that. Some integrated systems also facilitate telehealth. It can help you increase productivity and improve patient care.
