Google ‘Employee Retention in Behavioral Health’ and you’ll find a lot of stats regarding turnover, retention, engagement and recruitment. Bottom line is that employee turnover is high in behavioral health, employee engagement is low, and recruiting is tough. Read more to learn 3 strategies to increasing employee retention at your agency!
Like many other industries, technology is revolutionizing behavioral health. Ideally, it should support and enhance clinical care for patients while providing real-time behavioral and psychological care for staff providing treatment.
To help you navigate the next year of behavioral health technology trends and changes, our product managers and business analysts share which trends they think will emerge in 2019 – and beyond:
#1: Artificial Intelligence Will Drive Cleaner Data Capture
Kyle Woodruff, Sr. Product Manager
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the next big thing in health IT and it’s ready to make an impact. We are starting to see AI make its mark already; IBM’s Watson is a great example. AI is going to allow more data to be captured faster than ever before, accomplish repetitive tasks, and process predictable outcomes that will help clinicians get time back in their day. With the introduction of AI and its ability to capture data cleanly and more efficiently, it’s quickly becoming something we can’t live without. As time goes on, we are going to see AI get even more up close and personal as newer interfaces for AI emerge. Using AI to capture data and as virtual assistants is only the beginning, wait until you see what tomorrow brings.
#2: Enabling a More Mobile Workforce Will Help Increase Productivity and Efficiency
Matt Banyai, Business Systems Analyst
Most employees these days do not need to be “inside” an office to get their work accomplished accurately and efficiently. The mobile era has provided individuals the ability to use mobile devices to accomplish many work activities at a highly productive rate. Bring Your Own Device or “BYOD” is becoming more widespread throughout businesses as it allows employees to use their own devices for all work-related activities, such as meeting with clients at their locations for added convenience. This builds a better community feel and removes barriers of meeting with the client for services. Enabling a more mobile workforce promotes a more flexible, technology-driven and familiar environment to the users. As long as a smartphone, tablet or laptop are available for use, the mobile workforce will continue to grow and outperform desktop usage.
#3 Development Disability Programs Will Move off Paper and to EHRs
Tom Liccardi, Product Manager
Changing from a paper-based world to a digital infrastructure can be an agency culture change and will require champions. Paper charts and paper tracking has been the medium of choice for documenting client information in the I/DD world. Searching paper records can be an impossible task and the writing is often illegible causing inaccuracy and confusion. The primary goal is to both serve the client and reduce the staff’s burden of collecting data. Switching to an EHR will reduce this burden and allow for the ability to search, understand, and trend those data elements important to you and your business.
#4 Client Engagement Will be Key to Fighting the Opioid Crisis
Tom Liccardi, Product Manager
The opioid crisis is a widespread epidemic impacting all forms of human classifications. The early stages of a client’s recovery are critical. Because there is a high demand for services, clients often have to wait to be admitted into treatment. During this waiting period, it’s not uncommon for a client to disengage in the path of treatment. Another contributor to early client disengagement in treatment is the lack of connection and staff being unavailable. It has been found that clients who participate in some form of engagement tool, such as a patient portal, will have high levels of treatment satisfaction. By engaging with clients outside of the traditional treatment model and teaching critical engagement strategies, agencies will develop better communication and trust with clients. Clients who are more engaged with their treatment tend to manage their condition better. Lastly, agencies who improve client engagement through extra therapeutic factors have better treatment outcomes.
#5 Taking a Data-Driven Approach to Value-Based Care
Sheri Brown, Business Systems Analyst
Value-based healthcare strives to improve population health, increase patient satisfaction and reduce cost. Value-based programs, in turn, reward healthcare providers with incentive payments when they demonstrate the quality of the care they give. The question is, how can you demonstrate something as nebulous as ‘quality’? The best way to demonstrate this is with solid data. Good data shows you what is currently happening, exposes gaps, helps you predict what is likely to happen in the future based on that information, and then take action. As time passes and you continue gathering data on those actions you take, you will see the direct impact (positive or negative) of those actions and can continuously recalibrate and improve quality of care.
May 21st, 2018 – Scottsdale, AZ – Remarkable Health is proud to announce that Alan Ortego has joined the company as Chief Technology Officer. Alan will oversee the product and engineering teams at Remarkable Health, as well as lead the company’s product roadmap and technical operations. Alan is an experienced technology executive with over 15 years of leadership experience architecting and developing innovative software products, making him a strong addition to the company.
Along with his team, Alan will work to architect and develop solutions that serve the needs of behavioral health providers and their clients. Alan stated, “Remarkable Health is working to transform behavioral health and I am tremendously excited to join this strong, innovative and forward-thinking team. I look forward to using my healthcare technology experience to focus on the specific issues of our providers, and to enhance, grow and create products that will allow our providers to focus on what matters – their clients.”
“Without a doubt Alan is a talented CTO with experience relevant to our industry.” said Peter Flick, President & Chief Executive Officer. “He has the unique ability as a technology leader to deliver awesome products, lead a team, and create a culture of growth. We’re extremely excited about the impact he will have on furthering our mission to create products that deliver Wow! moments for behavioral health providers and their clients.”
Prior to Remarkable Health, Alan was Chief Technology Officer at eMDs, an industry leading EHR and practice management solution for physicians where he led high-performance teams of architects, engineers, and developers to deliver new SaaS products. Alan also previously served as Sr. Director of Engineering and Chief Architect at eMDs. Prior to eMDs he was Lead Application Developer at VueCentric where he led development on the company’s core product, MortgageDashboard. Earlier in his career Alan led the Applications Development Team at Innovative Way, was a Solutions Analyst at Experian Scorex, and was an Application Developer at Applied Materials.
For additional information, visit https://www.remarkablehealth.com/
About Remarkable Health
Remarkable Health is a 25-year pioneer offering practice management software to the Behavioral Health and Human Service community. Our provider success platform enables health care providers to improve more lives by spending less time in front of a screen and more time helping their clients. Our flagship product, CT|One is a complete hosted Electronic Health Record (EHR) – Clinical, Billing, Scheduling, Medication Management / e-Prescribing, Reporting, etc. – for inpatient, outpatient and residential settings.
The electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS) has been a topic of discussion surrounding the ways we can take preventive measures and utilize technology. The use of EPCS can make a difference by streamlining clinical workflows and providing critical security measures that are designed to help prescribers prevent prescription drug abuse. Using this as a management tool would also help with drug-drug interactions, inappropriate dosing, and dosage reminders, which could help reduce errors as well as enhance the safety of patients.
Remarkable Health recently partnered with Kevin Hines to help produce “Suicide the Ripple Effect”, a feature length documentary film, currently in production. The film focuses on the devastating effects of suicide and the tremendous positive ripple effects of advocacy, inspiration and action that are helping millions of people find the hope needed to stay alive.
The film takes you on a journey with Kevin, who at age 19, attempted to take his life by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge. Kevin is now one of the Golden Gate Bridge survivors. Today, Kevin still battles many extreme symptoms of bipolar disorder, but that hasn’t stopped him from becoming a world-renowned mental health advocate, motivational speaker and author who has helped thousands of people choose life. We are excited to help Kevin spread a message of hope, recovery, and wellness as he visits some of the people who have been impacted by his suicide attempt.
Please join us in this mission to help insure this film and its inspirational message of hope reaches its full potential and is seen around the globe by those who need hope the most. You can help by sharing this post with your social networks.
Check out the trailer here
Whether you are replacing paper records or replacing an existing EHR system, the process of transitioning to a behavioral health EHR platform requires significant preparation.
The following steps will help you plan your specific goals and understand the overall impact, easing the transition process and increasing your chance of success.
Establishing key goals for EHR implementation should be one of the first things you should document. Goals should be measurable, realistic, and include timelines for completion.
Example goals to include:
Key goals should be dynamic. Be prepared to modify your goals as you learn more about your workflows in the next step and how an EHR solution will mesh with or change them.
The first step is to document your administrative, clinical, and financial workflows. You need to understand how you currently do things to determine where there are areas for improvement and how they may change after EHR implementation.
Are there any technical literacy gaps that require training outside of using the EHR system?
Finally, consider additional financial costs like staffing changes, updates needed to hardware, and a loss of productivity while employees become proficient with the new EHR solution.
Designated leadership can make or break your EHR implementation process. Your team should include clinicians, staff, and management of all levels and from all roles.
Your implementation team must have the authority to make decisions concerning the transition process. Also, assign a champion to lead the team. You want someone who can engage others and create excitement around your new EHR solution.
Finally, appoint someone willing to be the point person during and after implementation to answer questions and help others through the transition.
Your EHR provider should also provide a key contact to help you undertake the transition.
Now you need to search for prospective EHR providers. Your planning in the above steps provides guidance on what to look for in preferred vendors.
A behavioral health EHR vendor supplies a configured platform designed to take your agency’s workflows and optimize them in a way that functions within the EHR system. Part of selecting an EHR vendor is determining whether they will provide the security necessary for your protected health information, so it’s important to look for a certified vendor.
Finally, it’s important to find a vendor that values relationships. You want a vendor that will guide you through implementation and support you like a business partner after go-live. Without this type of business partnership, it’s likely you will have a failed implementation.
Conclusion
While these four steps summarize a successful EHR implementation, planning the details before selecting an EHR vendor puts you on the path to success. Agencies are more likely to experience a smoother implementation and better outcomes when they take the time to plan accordingly.
Where to find more information
Remarkable Health’s comprehensive best practice guide, Behavioral Health EHR Implementation Roadmap, shows you how to create a roadmap for a successful implementation. Download your free copy of the guide today.
The Remarkable Health difference
Remarkable Health offers an implementation methodology that puts your agency first. Our goal is to ensure you have remarkable experiences throughout each stage of your relationship with us.
When you engage with our implementation team expect formal project plans for each program we set up and establish. Once your organization is ready, our extensive training process helps your staff and clinicians become efficient users of CT|One from well before your go-live date.
And once you go live with the system, we are here to provide assistance through any hiccups or roadblocks encountered with the process, serving as a trusted advisor for your organization.
Request a demo of CT|One today to experience the difference a powerful fully integrated behavioral health EHR platform can make in your client care and agency goals.
The HIPAA Privacy Rule ensures clients’ privacy rights and protections regarding their health information. Nevertheless, the Privacy Rule recognizes when health information may need to be shared to make sure clients receive the best treatment and to ensure the health and safety of the client or others.
Sharing information related to mental health
HIPAA permits mental healthcare providers to share protected behavioral health information in the following instances.
Restrictions
HIPAA Privacy Rule allows disclosure of mental health information for treatment in the above situations and other purposes with appropriate protections.
Conclusion
If you’re faced with a medication compliance situation with a client, you may communicate with family members or other responsible parties about the compliance issues. This can help you guide your client towards medication compliance and a better outcome for treatment.
On the other hand, only divulge the minimum amount of information required. Be cognizant of both the Privacy Rule and the restrictions on protected mental health information.
The Remarkable Health difference
Remarkable Health’s flagship platform, CT|One, offers a fully integrated behavioral health EHR platform that offers medication compliance and safeguards to help you properly treat your clients with minimal risk.
CT|One has a drug/drug and allergy interaction alert that activates if a known interaction exists. It alerts the user as well as provides information on the specific interaction and the resource from which it came. The interaction alert recognizes minor, moderate, and severe levels, and you can configure it to suppress alerts.
Contact Remarkable Health today to request a demo of this powerful EHR platform. See for yourself how CT|One can help you accurately and safely treat your clients and increase medication compliance.
Remarkable Health is proud to be recognized as one of “The Best of Future: Companies To Watch In The Years Ahead” by BestCompaniesAZ as part of their 15th anniversary serving Arizona’s business community. This category of “Best of Future” honors companies that demonstrate great potential for growth and representing a new era of businesses in Arizona.
“Great companies are the product of amazing people,” said Peter Flick, CEO of Remarkable Health. “We have created a culture that celebrates having fun while achieving operational excellence, which has brought and continues to draw in great talent. Being listed as one of the 100 Best companies in Arizona is a huge honor and proves that what we are doing works. We are building something special in Phoenix.”
Remarkable Health’s core values are centered on people and culture. We understand that our associates make this company Remarkable and we continue to invest in them to build a best-in-class organization. We’re excited about the team we’re building, the future of our company, and how we can serve the behavioral health industry.
Check out Remarkable Health in the latest article by BestCompaniesAZ: https://bestcompaniesaz.com/introducing-the-best-of-future-companies-to-watch-in-the-years-ahead/
About Remarkable Health:
Remarkable Health (formerly ClaimTrak) is a leading Provider Success Software company focused on the Behavioral Health and Human Services community. For the last 25 years, our software has enabled hundreds of health care providers to improve more lives by spending less time in front of a screen and more time helping their clients. Our flagship product, CT|One, is a complete hosted Electronic Health Record (EHR) – Clinical, Billing, Scheduling, Medication Management / e-Prescribing, Reporting, etc. – for inpatient, outpatient and residential settings.
About BestCompaniesAZ:
BestCompaniesAZ is a consulting firm dedicated to identifying, developing and promoting great workplaces. BestCompaniesAZ has been at the forefront of building sought-after employer brands and prestigious workplace awards programs since 2002, including the “2003 Best Companies to Work for in the Valley” program (published by the Phoenix Business Journal), Arizona Most Admired Companies (published by AZ Business Magazine and BestCompaniesAZ), and Top Companies to Work for in Arizona (published by azcentral and Republic Media). BestCompaniesAZ provides consulting services for organizations committed to workplace excellence, including employee surveys, best practices, national and local public relations, employer branding, culture development and promotional services. For more information, visit http://www.bestcompaniesaz.com or phone 480-545-5151.
If you have a billing system that doesn’t integrate with your practice management system or an EHR system that’s not robust enough, you probably don’t have the full functionality you need for revenue cycle management. It may be time to consider a solution that follows the behavioral health client lifecycle from end to end.
Look for the following key behavioral health billing solutions to ensure you maximize cash flow and improve your revenue cycle management.
A fully integrated behavioral health EHR solution offers the above behavioral health billing features and more to improve your cash flow and optimize your revenue cycle management process. When you can measure and monitor your billing process on a daily basis, you can make the changes necessary to keep your agency operating.
The Remarkable Health difference
Remarkable Health offers a fully integrated behavioral health EHR platform designed to create efficiencies that increase cashflow and improve revenue cycle management and automate functions so your clinicians spend more time on client care and everyone spends less time on the computer.
Call to schedule a demo of CT|One today to discover the power of an EHR solution designed specifically for behavioral health providers.
Behavioral health providers are increasingly seeking ways to improve processes and implement technologies to help them better manage their finances and improve both clients’ and their outcomes. Here are 5 revenue cycle management trends to pay attention to in 2017.
While many behavioral health agencies have implemented an EHR system, they may find their current one doesn’t provide everything they need. A fully integrated behavioral health EHR solution has revenue cycle management solutions that are of particular focus because they accelerate the overall revenue cycle by streamlining process.
Existing and new regulations increase the demand for an integrated solution and in doing so limit the choice of technology vendors that have the capability to integrate a variety of functions needed. Behavioral health agencies need solutions that mesh processes like payments, claims submissions, patient documentation, and overall client care.
A fully integrated behavioral health EHR system will reduce the denial rate of claims, billing staff time spent on reconciliations, and your overall revenue cycle management function from hours—and sometimes days—to minutes. Through automation and operational efficiencies, your revenue cycle management process becomes more efficient, letting you focus on optimizing and strengthening your workflows to provide better cash flow and improved revenues.
Also, more accurate and efficient processes lead to less time wasted on time-consuming administrative work and more time focused on client care, leading to improved client engagement and better outcomes.
Achieving operational efficiencies, coupled with reducing waste, can significantly impact your bottom line. From reducing wasted effort and time, to increasing time and effort spent on optimizing cash flow and revenue, streamlined processes result in a substantial boost.
Automation with a behavioral health EHR platform provides access to instant billing and increased revenue collections, including checks in place for accuracy and compliance. An EHR can automatically identify incorrect coding and signature requirements, cutting down on staff time needed to track and correct claims.
Increasing client engagement leads to better client satisfaction. Automated reminders via text, email, and/or phone can help clients easily keep track of their appointments. Offering clients the option to choose their preferred method of communication keeps reminders less intrusive and more relevant.
Many behavioral health agencies are turning to a fully integrated behavioral health EHR system that provides information in one place to track and manage clients’ progress. This helps you gain a full view of client interaction, making for more satisfied clients.
Data from a fully integrated EHR platform provides insight into every area of your organization. You can track treatment plans and outcomes, staff productivity, and revenue cycle management metrics. Each of these key performance indicators can be used to comply with state requirements, ensuring clients meet their goals and the agency is maximizing cash flow.
Since you can only change what you measure, you can leverage data insights you gain from current revenue cycles into actionable revenue cycle management improvements. This will have a direct effect on your cash flow and revenue.
Conclusion
These five trends are top of list for most behavioral health agencies in 2017 because they can have a significant impact not only on operations, but also on your revenue cycle metrics.
Most importantly, however, is finding the right behavioral health EHR platform that fully integrates the complete life cycle of a client in one single system. All information contained in one place makes for impressive efficiencies, reduced waste, and better client service, satisfaction, and outcomes.
The Remarkable Health difference
Remarkable Health’s CT|One is a fully integrated behavioral health EHR system designed to improve client care, create efficiencies that increase cashflow and improve revenue cycle management, and automate functions so your clinicians spend more time on client care and less time on the computer.
Request a demo today to discover the power of an EHR solution designed specifically for behavioral health providers.
© 2021 Remarkable Health.
