10 Advantages of an EHR System for Behavioral Health Professionals

When EMR software first hit the market, it was generally designed for medical specialties and not really for behavioral and mental health professionals.  Fortunately over the years, EHR systems have evolved into practical solutions that meet the technological needs of behavioral health providers.  Many offer the same robust features that medical specialties use while also focusing on the differing needs in the behavioral and mental health fields.

With the government's new interest in the possible incentive program for Behavioral Health Specialists, it's important to understand that EHRs have been proven to help provide higher quality and safer care for clients, while creating tangible enhancements for organizations.

As we go through the advantages of an EHR, it's important to keep in mind what your needs are in a system and how they relate to providing top care for your clients.  

EHRs help providers better manage care for clients by:

1.  Providing accurate, up-to-date, and complete information about clients at the point of care

2.  Enabling quick access for all permissible users to client records for more coordinated, efficient care

3.  Sharing electronic information securely with clients and other clinicians

4.  Helping providers more effectively diagnose clients, reduce medical errors, and provide safer care

5.  Improving client and clinician interaction and communication

6.  Enabling safer, more reliable prescribing and tracking of medications

7.  Helping promote legible, complete documentation and accurate, streamlined coding and billing

8.  Enhancing privacy and security of patient data

9.  Helping providers improve efficiency, productivity and work-life balance

10.  Reducing costs through decreased paperwork, improved safety, reduced duplication of testing, and improved health.

(And, here's an bonus advantage.....no more piles of paper charts heaped up everywhere!)

      Next we'll talk about some tips for selecting the best EHR for your organization!

Top 4 Challenges Facing Behavioral Health Organizations

A 2015 survey cited four of the biggest challenges facing behavioral health organizations were centered around an organization's culture, administrative tasks, regulatory compliance and collaborating with external sources for billing or client care. With the constant changes in behavioral healthcare, things probably haven't changed very much.

1. Culture

Roughly 10% of those surveyed stated some sort of culture-related frustration as its biggest challenge. Interpersonal conflicts in the workplace often result from frustration in navigating inadequate or antiquated processes. With paper records, most processes are generally governed by SOPs (standard operating procedures), These procedures tend to change as new management comes on board they can easily become non-standardized as providers and staff interpret these processes in their own way.

2. Administrative Tasks

Close to 20% of respondents stated specific administrative tasks as their organization’s largest challenge. This challenge included all types of functional duties performed by staff, including patient registration, documentation, and filing claims. Some of the organizations confessed many of these tasks were being performed by the care providers themselves. Administrative tasks represent a significant portion of any behavioral health organization’s time, that's just how it is.

3. Regulatory Compliance

Around 30% of those surveyed replied that keeping up with state or federal regulation was its biggest challenge, no surprise here! Behavioral health care is subjected to regular revisions in both state and federal requirements on a constant basis which often results in necessary changes to forms or workflows.

4. Collaborating externally

The most common survey response (40% of survey respondents) was that collaborating with external resources for billing or care was the biggest organizational challenge. With behavioral healthcare having so many different yet interlacing facets, it’s not surprising that the cooperation between care providers, billing services and insurance companies was a major pain point for the respondents.

Does your organization struggle with any of these issues?  The right EHR vendor may be able to help.

EHR versus EMR - What's the difference?

Most behavioral health specialists today are familiar with the terms EHR and EMR.  In our current healthcare industry the terms tend to be used interchangeably, however, there is a difference.

What is an EMR?

An EMR or electronic medical record is a digital record of a client’s health information.  It generally stays within one clinic and involves only the medical record of specific diagnoses/treatments.  The word “medical” focuses more on a client’s medical diagnosis and treatment.

What is an EHR?

An EHR or electronic health record is also a digital record of a client’s health information.  However it manages data from a client’s entire network of providers.  The word “health” covers more in-depth information about a person’s overall health.

Why the difference?

There are important differences between an EMR and EHR in regards to their purpose, function, and capability.   It’s important for you to understand these differences, especially if you’re getting ready to look for a solution to implement into your healthcare organization.

Here’s a quick look at the differences in capabilities between an EMR and EHR. 

EHR	EMR
·        Designed to follow a client from one provider or organization to another while sharing health information	·       Designed to record a client’s health data typically within one organization.
·       Collects & manages healthcare information from all sources for all diagnoses	·       Helps a provider stay on top of a client’s progress in regards to specific diagnoses
·       Interoperable – allows providers to electronically share a client’s data outside of their own facility instantly and securely with other healthcare professionals	·       Designed to stay within one organization.  Data can be shared with outside providers, but generally done manually through faxing or mailing.
·       Requirement of the Meaningful Use and MIPS programs	·       Does not meet Meaningful Use and MIPS requirements

In summary, EHR systems provide faster searching, retrieval and electronic sharing of a client’s complete health picture. The coordination of critical data between different providers is streamlined which paves the way for better clinical decisions.

What about keeping a paper-based system?

These days, a paper-based system just isn’t feasible anymore. Look at the piles of charts on everyone’s desk.  How much of your staff’s time is wasted looking for paper charts and deciphering hand-written notes?  What happens when one of your clinicians needs to see a client outside of the office?

Adopting progressive and valuable healthcare technologies into your organization will improve the quality of your services, help create a better environment for your team and contribute to overall better population health.

How Happy is Your Physician?

A recent article in HeathData Management reported that EHRs have a big influence on physician satisfaction.  As quoted, "Physicians believing they provide or facilitate high-quality care have higher professional satisfaction and how they feel about their electronic health records system plays a big role in that satisfaction."

RAND Corporation did a study of 220 clinicians and administrators in 30 practices across 6 states.  They reported that physicians approved the concept of electronic health record systems especially when it comes to remotely accessing patient information and seeing improvements in the quality of care.  

However not all physicians agreed.  Some stated that "Poor EHR usability, time-consuming data entry, interference with face-to-face patient care, inefficient and less fulfilling work content, inability to exchange health information between EHR products, and degradation of clinical documentation were prominent sources of professional dissatisfaction.”

So how happy is your physician?  Is he or she able to spend time talking with you like they want, or is their head buried in a paper chart or computer?  Are they furiously clicking away on a keyboard with a scowl on their face because they know all this work will only churn out irrelevant information that they'll need to fix later - most likely on their own time?  Are there still mounds of paperwork that have to be sent to other offices or medical facilities, when it should be as easy as pushing a button?

Maybe take a closer look the next time you go in for a visit.  Ask them "how happy are you?" and see what they say.  You might be surprised!  Oh, and if they aren't happy, mention us here at Inforia.  We have a simple solution that might be exactly what they need ... after all, it might give them more time to spend with you!

HealthData Management article written by Joseph Goedert, OCT 14, 2013 4:10pm ET

NYS I-STOP Prescription Monitoring Program

In 2012, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the I-STOP or "Internet System for Tracking Over-Prescribing" act into law and it is now mandatory for 2013.  The law requires all prescribers to consult the Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) prior to prescribing and Schedule II, III and IV controlled substances.  Each prescriber must have an individual Health Commerce System Account (HCS) to gain access to the PMP registry.   This may lead to more electronic prescribing for controlled substances down the road.

In the New York State Office of the Attorney General's proposal, they cite:

"Prescription drug diversion involves channeling legitimately produced controlled substances from their lawful purpose into illicit drug traffic. Abuse of diverted drugs comprises the nation’s fastest growing drug problem, and in recent years has reached epidemic proportions. It affects every sector of society, straining our healthcare and criminal justice systems, and endangering the future of our younger generations.

Why are Many EHR Users Unhappy?

A survey finds vendors often failing to meet provider needs.

Erin McCann, Associate Editor at Healthcare IT News

NEW YORK | February 19, 2013

With more electronic health record systems continuing to fall short of providers' expectations, a new report by Black Book Rankings suggests that 2013 may indeed be the "year of the great EHR vendor switch."   After polling some 17,000 active EHR adopters, report officials found that as many as 17 percent of medical practices could be switching out their first choice EHR by the end of the year. 

“The high performance vendors emerging as viable past 2015 are those dedicating responsive teams to address customers’ current demands,” said Black Book’s managing partner Doug Brown, in a news release.   [See also: EHR adoption could exceed 80 percent by end of 2013, new study finds.]

And in light of Stage 2, officials say provider demands are only increasing. EHR users polled cited numerous cases of software firms underperforming badly enough to lose crucial market share as the industry evolves, with vendor solutions often struggling to keep pace.

Click here to see why providers are switching to Inforia, Inc. and our 

CaregiverDesktop EHR !

Karen Goetz Success Story

Are you interested in how Inforia Inc. was born?
Read this article by the U.S Small Business Association about our President and CEO, Karen Goetz, to see what inspired her to start the company you now know as Inforia Inc.