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Behavioral Health Archives - Remarkable Health

Jul 01
2
Does your data drive innovation?

Develop a Mind for Innovation: Is Your Behavioral Health Agency Driven by Data?

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“Crises, especially the one we are experiencing now, have a significant financial and human toll, stranding assets and human capital and causing significant social and economic dislocation. However, many of these dynamics are ingredients for disruption from which new business models emerge.” – Innovation in a Crisis: Why it is more critical than ever, McKinsey & Company

Many of us read this quote and understand what is being communicated explicitly. There isn’t much to argue in the above statement. But how do these words translate into a reality where data can truly drive innovation for behavioral health providers? Have you considered all that has taken place with COVID-19 and the effects on our industry as innovative ingredients to create a new or revised agency model? A model that can sustain future crises? If not, it is likely due to one of two reasons:

  1. You are currently still operating your agency from a state of crisis due to the effects of COVID-19. You are simply trying to keep your agency afloat, devoting each resource to essential needs of today.
  2. You are uncertain of the first steps to take in becoming an innovative agency. This has impacted your ability to create an adapted and thriving business model.

Then what is the first step in becoming innovative? Without data, innovation will be misplaced and misguided. Efforts, resources, and changes will be applied to unaffected areas of the business. More than ever, right now is the time to look at data. Not tomorrow. Not in a few months. But right now. Because tomorrow may be too late. That over-worked service provider may decide she will submit her two-week notice tomorrow. All of which could be prevented by analyzing billed amount and units by clinician today to reveal potential burnout. To ultimately lead you to ask the right question and reveal the burnout you believe is taking place (likely as a result of overproduction due to COVID-19). Today you could speak to that service provider to create a plan for her sustainability and engagement, and prevent the two-week notice from being submitted in the first place.

So if data is the first step to becoming an innovative agency, what is keeping you from analyzing and utilizing it? Again, two major components are at play here:

  1. You don’t have the proper tools to analyze your data.
  2. You don’t know how to analyze the data. You are unsure of what data to look at and what the data tells you about your current state of business and future decision-making opportunities.

Having the tools to make decisions just as fast as our current environment is changing, is essential. In this upcoming blog series, we will explore the tools needed and points of data to analyze within three major aspects of your agency’s operations:

  1. Behavioral Health Staff Productivity and Utilization: Is overproduction a good thing?
  2. No-Show Rates in Behavioral Health: Can you explain your agency’s no-show rates?
  3. Service Types: Has your response to increased demand in Behavioral Health services actually lost your agency money?

Join us as we take a deep dive into each one over the coming weeks to understand how data can drive innovation in the behavioral health and I/DD fields.

 

For the entire article of ‘Innovation in a Crisis: Why it is more critical than ever’, click here. 

Apr 14
16
remote workers on video call

Giving You One Day Back – Quick Resources To Help Your Agency Survive COVID-19

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Our mission has remained steady: we want to remove any obstacles that get in the way of a behavioral health or I/DD provider impacting the life of another person. Our goal is to create one extra day a week for every role in your organization. Amidst the sudden changes and drastic impacts your agency has recently experienced due to COVID-19, our goal remains the same. One way we believe we can give you one day back during this unprecedented time is to create a central hub with the most essential and consistent resources available for the success of your agency – regarding both the services you provide and the staff that make it all possible.

Essential Resources to Provide Services

Telehealth & Reaching Isolated Populations

As you transition to providing most or all of your services through telehealth, here are the most important resources to monitor. Please keep in mind your agency can use any non-public facing remote communication product, even if you haven’t entered into a HIPAA business associate agreement (BAA) with video communication vendors. For more details of the announcement from the US Department of Health & Human Services regarding HIPAA and Telehealth during COVID-19, click here.

  • American Telemed has many resources, pertinent webinars, community groups, and recent news in one place at your fingertips. This resource is great for an agency that has never conducted telehealth services or has been doing it for years!
  • This Provider Telehealth and Telemedicine Tool Kit put out by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) outlines detail on the expansion of telehealth with the 1135 Waiver and Medicare’s coverage (along with billing codes). This also includes essential state statute guidance and telehealth implementation resources.
  • Medicaid.gov has put out a Coronavirus Disease Response Tool Kit with tools & checklists for states, state waiver approvals, billing & coding guidance, Medicare and other coverage guidance, and much more. This is a great one-stop shop for resources no matter where you are at in the process of transitioning to providing telehealth services through your agency.
  • Doxy.Me is a free, simple, and secure telemedicine tool for providers. Doxy.me has a goal to remove any barriers that may be preventing your agency from conducting telemedicine visits. Please note, doxy.me is a HIPAA-compliant video communication product and is willing to enter into a HIPAA BAA for the longevity of your telehealth services.
  • For those of you navigating video conferencing and calls as a means of communication for the first time, take a look at these Meeting & Webinar Best Practices and Resources from Zoom (these can be applied to any video conferencing application you are using).

General Resources

  • For timely industry-specific news, ongoing webinars, mental health first aid tools, and even DIY mask tutorials, head to the National Council’s COVID-19 Resources and Tools page.
  • Check out the many resources, blogs, podcasts and mental health matters practices from our partner and friend, Kevin Hines, as he shares fluidly and actively during this time.

Essential Resources to Support Staff

The Remarkable Way

Here at Remarkable Health, we have gone through a similar transition to a fully remote company within the past month. In that transition, we have learned important lessons and created innovative ways to engage our team. We want to share four initiatives that have had the most impact in order for you to integrate within your agency!

  1. Weekly Vlog: Our CEO, Peter Flick, hosts a weekly vlog (video blog) in which he communicates important updates to our team regarding COVID-19, our company, and the industry. He also takes this time to encourage us to remain positive and seek support as needed to remain healthy. It has been important for each employee to candidly hear from the CEO of the company on a regular basis during this time.
  2. Charity Miles Competition: We encourage you to check out the Charity Miles app available on Android and iOS. This app donates money to a charity of your choice for every mile you track walking, running and biking. On the app, you can create teams. This has allowed our company to participate in a competition to see who can accumulate the most miles over the next two months – promoting healthy interaction and fun competition with teammates, while engaging in activity proven to increase our mental health!
  3. Weekly Challenges: We have two challenges taking place this month in order to inject positivity and healthy habits into our team. The first is a weekly challenge to Create WOW Moments in the lives of others. Click here [upload image] to check out ideas we have come up with to Create Wow Moments. The second is a weekly challenge to engage in a new and different physical activity challenge (provided by our Health & Wellness Committee). Prizes are included for participation in both challenges!
  4. Virtual Coffee Shop Drop In & Happy Hour: Each week we have two optional companywide events to interact with one another personally. This is an opportunity to replace those hallway or breakroom interactions and ensure social interaction has found its place through a new virtual platform. 

Other Resources to Keep Your Staff Healthy

  • Forbes has put together a comprehensive survival guide to caring for staff, ranging from how to communicate about the virus and state of your company, to building team morale and addressing employment and financial needs of your team. 
  • NAMI has created a wonderful resource primarily providing resources for you and your family’s self-care and wellness. Check it out and send to your team as a reminder to take care of themselves as providers!
  • “You’re here for them, we’re here for you!” Headspace is a tool that provides guided meditations, animations, articles, and videos to improve your health and happiness. Due to COVID-19, Headspace is offering free access for healthcare professionals for the remainder of 2020.
  • Hilton & Marriott Hotels are offering special rates and deep discounts for healthcare professionals in need of a comfortable place to rest and stay. For Hilton’s offer, click here. For Marriott’s offer, email CVHelp@marriott.com.

Employee Legislative Resources 

Please reach out to anyone on our team at Remarkable Health if there are creative ways we can support you and your agency during this time. We are continuously looking for ways to remove the obstacles you face as providers – even the obstacles we can’t plan for or expect. 

Want to take it with you?  Grab our takeaway guide to share with your team!



Jun 25
0
remarkable health employee christine peter

Remarkable Health Welcomes Christine Peter As Controller

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Scottsdale, AZ, June 25, 2019 – Remarkable Health is proud to announce Christine Peter has joined the company as Controller. Christine will oversee the accounting and finance department, driving transparency and accountability throughout the organization. Christine is an effective financial leader with over nine years of experience within both public and private companies, making her a strong addition to Remarkable Health.

Along with her team, Christine will enhance processes to produce accurate forecasts and deliver precise company-wide financial statements. Christine stated, “Remarkable Health is developing innovations within the behavioral health industry to remove obstacles faced by our clients. I am looking forward to working with such a skilled, driven and passionate team. I am eager to utilize my accounting experience in order to deliver accurate financials that will drive decision-making.”

“Christine brings a dynamic lens of previous public and private accounting experience that will be indispensable here at Remarkable Health. She has a proven track record of high impact leadership, and will establish greater accountability and efficiency within the company. We’re eager to see Christine’s impact cascade directly to the agencies we partner with as we strive to remove obstacles for behavioral health providers.” states CEO, Peter Flick.

Prior to Remarkable Health, Christine was a Finance Manager at Envision Healthcare, one of the largest providers of physician services to hospital and health systems. She also previously served as Assistant Controller at Imaging Advantage, before the organization’s acquisition by Envision Healthcare. Earlier in her career, Christine worked as a Senior Audit Associate at KPMG, where she led multiple public and private audits in the healthcare and education industries. These experiences also allowed her to obtain her Certified Public Accountant certification from the Arizona State Board of Accountancy.

For additional information, visit https://www.remarkablehealth.com/.

About Remarkable Health

Remarkable Health is a 28-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.

Jun 13
0
designed software image

Confidence in Quality – Our Job, Your EHR Software

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By Stacey Torres, Quality Analyst at Remarkable Health

When I tell friends I am a Quality Analyst (QA for short) they often think I work on an assembly line at a factory ensuring certain parts meet a standard for a manufacturer. I quickly back-peddle. As you can imagine, testing computer software isn’t the typical connotation for Quality Analyst. In reality, there are similarities between these two types of QA. Both have the same underlying goal: to ensure the end product goes out to customers and end users in the best possible condition.

The role of a Software QA doesn’t start at the end of the “line” however.  We are involved very early on in a project. Understanding what the project entails at a detailed level helps us to determine the best course of action to take in order to effectively test a particular product feature.  At times, this means we test a feature piece by piece until the full scope of it is ready.  The complexity of the feature dictates our process.

Ideally, QA attempts to use a product the way a client would. Our role is to pay attention to all facets of the feature capabilities, going beyond correct system functionality. We look at screens to make sure color, size, font, etc. are accurate.  We spellcheck and grammar check. I am certain we even do things that make our developers cringe, and click where we shouldn’t click!  Our goal in all of this is to make sure you – the end users of the EHR software we are testing – are able to use this system and each feature successfully, without errors. Our goal is that the software becomes and is a tool you can rely on.

When an end user does experience a problem, QA gets involved to see if we are able to recreate the issue in our in-house QA environment. If so, we take steps to ensure this is properly tested going forward, and then are also part of testing the fix that is deployed to each agency.

At the end of a project, you can think of QA as last in the assembly line.  If we don’t give approval that a system passes our testing, it is not delivered to our customers.

At Remarkable Health, we are committed to creating innovative products and features without compromising quality. For over 25 years, Remarkable Health has pioneered innovation through technology for behavioral health and DD providers. Our integrated suite of outcomes management, EHR and mobile technology arms providers with the tools they need to improve client outcomes by spending less time on documentation and inefficient workarounds and more time delivering value-based care and engagement. To learn more about the CT|One EHR and the CT|One Mobile app, contact us at (480) 550-8077 or visit our website at www.RemarkableHealth.com.

May 23
2
woman writing in notebook

The Time In Between: Are you Maximizing the Gap Between Client Sessions?

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Depending on the needs and the modality of treatment for each client, we can spend significant time with our clients as providers. These session frequencies can range from weekly, biweekly, to even monthly. During these sessions, providers will spend an average of approximately 50 minutes engaging with the client. But are these 50 minutes a month enough to accomplish the goals set out in a client’s treatment plan?

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