In behavioral health organizations, electronic medical records (EMR) management is a critical part of care.
EMR software can be a powerful tool for coordinating patient care. However, to enjoy the full range of modern EMR application benefits, you need to choose a system that’s designed specifically for behavioral health settings.
The complexities of providing care and managing services for behavioral health patients requires unique solutions that were tailored specifically to the behavioral health discipline.
At Integrative, a Harris Healthcare company, we understand that the intersection of healthcare and software can be tricky. Care providers rely on ever-evolving management platforms, but it can be hard to keep up with all of the updates and upgrades that seem necessary just to keep pace with the industry.
If you’re moving towards a decision on a new behavioral health EMR application, we would like to offer a few quick tips. In this guide, we’ll discuss the key features that are essential for streamlining your workflow and improving patient health outcomes.
When selecting a behavioral health EMR application, look for one that demonstrates excellence in the following areas.
Ease of Use
Software is only useful if it’s user-friendly.
The last thing you need is a system that’s so complicated and difficult to use that it becomes the source of daily headaches for your staff. That’s why software product demonstrations are so important—before choosing a behavioral health EMR application, see it in action to make sure that its operations look like they’ll be easy to learn.
Customization Options
Like ease of use, customization is critical for adapting an EMR application to meet the specific needs of your practice. Look for an application that allows you to create custom forms, templates, and workflow processes. Make sure that the system provides all of the tools that your team needs, but also doesn’t force the use of unwanted features.
Integration with Other Software Systems
Helpful software systems aren’t built to operate in isolation. Rather, they must be capable of simple and effective integration with other systems.
Your behavioral health care organization needs an EMR application that can seamlessly integrate with your existing practice management and billing systems. Smooth integration means that you can keep using the existing processes that you prefer while enhancing or replacing other ones.
When discussing products with a vendor, tell them which software systems your organization is currently using. Inquire about what you can expect when attempting to integrate their product with your existing programs and standards.
Electronic Prescribing
Your EMR application should enable electronic prescribing, also known as e-prescribing. Using this feature, psychiatrists and other prescribing practitioners can digitally transmit prescriptions to pharmacies. E-prescribing makes the prescription process faster, easier, and better organized.
Patient Privacy, Data Security and HIPAA Compliance
Patient privacy, data security, and HIPAA compliance are areas in which an EMR application should be tailored to the unique demands of individual healthcare disciplines. In behavioral health, these concerns are especially important.
Behavioral health organizations deal with sensitive privacy issues every day and require software that was designed with these challenges in mind. Choose an EMR application that makes it easy to comply with HIPAA. The system should be easy to customize in order to fit your organization’s privacy and security standards and processes.
Admissions Management
Behavioral health EMR applications can help make the admissions process easier for new patients and care providers.
Your application can streamline and unify the various processes related to admissions, such as scheduling, registration and intake, and billing. Moving more efficiently through these steps saves staff time, improves medical records management, and puts new patients at ease.
Get a Better Mental Health EMR Application For Your Organization
At Integrative, we provide innovative software that helps healthcare teams to better manage their day-to-day operations and finances. Our behavioral and mental health Coordinated Care Platform (CCP) is designed specifically to address the challenges of behavioral health management.
The Integrative CCP assists with dozens of behavioral health processes, including:
- Referral
- Registration and intake with HIE and other interoperability
- Eligibility with linkage to clearinghouse
- Document management
- Assessment
- Treatment plan and clinical decision support
- Treatment services and associated billing and labs
- E-Prescription
- Discharge transition
To learn more, contact Integrative today to schedule a quick 15-minute call with our team. We will be happy to provide you with a product demonstration to help you decide if our behavioral health EMR application is right for your organization.
