It’s continuously newer, better, and always adding more bling! It’s the Electronic Health Record!
One of the great things about the Electronic Health Record (EHR) is its constant advancement. Lately that’s been guided by Meaningful Use incentives, money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA); The original idea for these legislations was at least twofold: (1) extend the EHR’s use, and (2) get some money pumping through the economy. It’s worked out pretty good for everybody involved, generally speaking. And now it feels like everything is constantly changing.
The consumer wins with the EHR. I figure I’m like many Americans, and I have a tendency not to keep prescription details in my mind, reading assignments fall through the cracks unless I have them set as alerts in my SmartPhone, and Appointments? Fugghedaboudit, I must have both telephone reminders from the professional I’m working with and a calendar item set in my SmartPhone in order to focus on my healthcare issues before winding up in a place I don’t want to be, like an emergency room.
The EHR helps the consumer by recording the next appointment scheduled and creating a tickler list for calling the consumer with a reminder to make the appointment. The EHR also records what happened in the previous appointment and what direction treatment is supposed to take in the next appointment. That sort of information can be securely accessed in a “Consumer Portal”. The concept of a consumer accessing by actually using their consumer portal is a key to true participation in treatment, and just coming into use in many EHRs.
If the professional isn’t using their EHR to help the consumer focus on joint development of the treatment plan, one appointment at a time, then the software may not be living up to its potential. The professional’s records can actually help increase treatment effectiveness by keeping the treatment plan current with emergent issues and such, and assure it’s being constantly referenced. There are tons of regulations in play to enforce this practice, so it’s a good idea to optimize the treatment plan and let it do its job in this respect.
The organizations the professionals work for, behavioral health clinics, hospitals, emergency rooms and the like benefit from the improvement of treatment records on many levels. Primarily, there’s billing. What a nightmare insurance billing can be. The codes required and the rules of using them baffle PhDs across the country, and without the EHR to track what services are provided, when, and document that they meet insurance billing rules, payment may not be forthcoming. That said, the real culprit is not linking the billing portion of the software to the consumer’s medical record. When something’s done, it needs to be billed. Professionals in treatment may not be acquainted with billable services, and the software can be smart enough to automatically bill for services once a progress note is written or when a consumer successfully completes an appointment with the professional.
The software manufacturers sell software, and by reviewing the last year or so of my blog entries at www.mindhealthbiz.com, you’ll see most of the top-tier EHR programs in this industry have incredible features to help in that selling focus. They meet Meaningful Use incentive requirements, and they can do about anything a professional may need to improve both the clinical and business end of their work. Where all these benefits hang up is implementation. A professional can spend a tremendous amount of time and energy selecting just the right software, working with the perfect vendor, and in the end, if it doesn’t get used, it won’t work.
Implementation is a large project, lots of moving parts that touch every area of an organization trying to get the most out of the EHR. A lot of research goes into process workflows, insurance billing requirements, state licensing agency requirements and auditing requirements, and the result of this research needs to be part of the implementation. Too often, the implementation drags on and momentum is lost and the EHR ends up not performing as advertised because it’s not fully implemented.
And that’s not all.
Once the EHR is up and running, it’s constantly improved by the manufacturer, requiring work on the professional’s end of the equation. Constant optimization of the software adds to the complexity of the EHR implementation…it seems never ending. It’s a constantly changing world, and to respond to changing needs, software needs to be reconfigured from time to time to keep the EHR relevant and helping the consumer, the professional and mental health treatment organizations.
And that’s a never-ending story in itself.
Read more →These guys are gizmo hip.
That’s what struck me as a real high point for Credible Wireless when I recently saw their product. That and cloud-based technology. The product looks good. Whereas almost all of the other products I’ve seen this year have user interfaces that lean a bit toward the “1990’s look”, Credible looks current. It’s not surprising. Since they’re an internet based company, their focus for the past decade or so has been to look and act like they’re on the cutting edge of technology.
A number of years ago, I was into computer games. Graphics development had just made some leaps and bounds, so the games were beginning to have a more real sense about the people and houses and roads and weather and other elements of life. Hardware technology had just made a couple huge leaps forward, and it seemed computers were improving overnight. From that foundation, I came to expect a lot out of software and hardware. These days, all that technology is deployed on the web for a bundle of industries, and products like Wii are setting the stage for the new world of the EHR. All the companies I’ve reviewed this year seem to be moving in the right direction, and I think Credible is somewhere near the head of the pack.
They’re proud of their ability to work on the SmartPhone, the iPad, and probably any other gizmo out there that’s internet-happy, and a lot of professionals like that. Consumers will appreciate another interesting factor that emerges from this sort of software manufacturing foundation. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) I’ve seen deployed on these sorts of technology just haven’t delivered enough real estate to do the job…the screens are too small. A well thought out screen goes a long way toward making them usable, and for consumers that means their professional can take notes or fill out assessments very quickly and efficiently. Nobody likes to wait on somebody who’s texting their girlfriend, and I think it’s the same thing when a professional’s filling out a form on the SmartPhone.
On the surface, the billing system looks good. Since I’ve been around billing systems for a long time, I walked away with questions that a facility might not ask. I plan to see the system in person soon and get some hands-on time with the software; I’ll have a better handle on whether the billing system has a reasonably sensible setup time and process and whether some key problems that occasionally come up with software have been addressed. I can’t imagine my concerns will cause them problems, but I gotta ask the questions. What I do know is that they can bill insurance electronically and have a “scrubber” that helps get a clean claim to the insurance company. This avoids denials to pay a consumer’s insurance claim…insurance companies are picky and it’s better to be ahead of the game in this regard.
I’m a big fan of screen design tools…I want to be able to make a form like an assessment or special type of progress note do exactly what I want it to do without paying a software company to write code. Credible EHR comes with just such a tool, and that will be another thing I will be looking into soon. I assume it works like a number of similar tools on the market, so it should be pretty straightforward. I have a couple of concerns I need cleared up about the technical capabilities, so it should be a fun time. I’m optimistic.
Reporting is always a concern for professionals…How many consumers are we helping? Are we helping folks with the right services? Are we getting paid for what we do? Are we able to pay our bills? These and hundreds of other questions can be answered by reports in an EHR. From what I saw, the reporting system in Credible’s EHR is good. It’s based on some standard technology and for a techie with medium skills writing reports with some value should not be a problem.
Credible’s a small company (around 140 customers and “choosing to grow slow” is what they say), so I wonder why more people aren’t buying the system. If you’re a professional working at a facility that’s purchasing an EHR, that’s a concern to address with Credible early in your selection process.
Still, after all is said and done, Credible’s probably worth a look in most parts of the country.
Read more →If the Electronic Health Record (EHR) selection process was a beauty contest, Netsmart’s myAvatar product would likely take the prize.
The look and feel of the software as it was set up for a recent presentation I attended was excellent. One of the problems that can arise with EHR software is a lack of attention to making the software work within the special workflows in a mental health clinic. myAvatar’s workflows were well designed, suiting process flows for different user roles like billing, executive and clinical users. The idea is still along the lines of displaying sub-windows and rows of documents, activities and appointments; It’s easy on the eyes. As I’ve shared before, when an EHR takes this sort of detail into account, it makes for a more complete record of treatment, and the professional is better able to address the specific needs of each individual consumer. When information is at a professional’s fingertips, it’s more likely to be used; if not, and the records of previous sessions aren’t reviewed, is the consumer getting the best care?
Additionally, the inclusion of pulling data from Outlook is a plus for the Case Managers in the field. There is likely a way to launch Outlook from a hyperlink embedded in the program. I say this because it’s simple technology and a feature that was included in a previous version of the product. Data can also be pulled and pushed internally. The example was pushing problem data from an assessment to the treatment plan, and pulling goal and objective data from the treatment plan into a progress note. Professionals are human, and can be under pressure to see a high number of consumers in a given week. Those two factors conspire to make time-saving features like these vital to make the most of a professional’s time while giving her the information she needs to treat the consumer’s problems.
The reporting engine for Avatar is Crystal Reports, and although many vendors are moving toward internal reporting engines, Avatar provides a great map to the fields where certain data resides called “option documentation”; it’s quite simple to use, organizing the electronic record so it’s simple to pull data out of the system. As long as you have a person around to write the Crystal Reports, you’re set. From my experience, folks like yours truly can write Crystal Reports much less expensively than Netsmart (NTST) staff, so your organization may wish to consider outside consultants.
The EHR‘s RADplus toolkit is essentially a design tool that enables the customer to build their own system. In fact, this is what a number of customers have done. Because the RADplus is so robust, it also requires a level of skill somewhere between the design tools I’ve seen in other products and those of a programmer. If I had to guess, I’d say a slightly better-than-average Crystal Reports writer would have no problem using the tool. I’ve designed a number of screens and associated reports to them, and the outcomes have been good for the professionals using the system.
It’s tempting to use the RADplus tools and Crystal Reports to design a system from the bottom up because it would seem perfect. It would not be. The tried and true method to use for implementation is the same as for any major product on the market. Start with the existing forms and reports, modifying slightly during the implementation and approach improvements to make the system truly “my Avatar” only after the initial implementation has progressed to a level of Meaningful Use, billing and regulatory compliance.
The use of RADplus to design dashboards was flashy and impressive. Widgets can be included on dashboard screens to track whatever metrics exist in the system, from census to treatment plans due to authorizations due.
Predictive Modeling is a recent addition to NTST initiatives, encouraging research by sharing de-identified patient treatment information among the user group, a program reminiscent of the MindLinc business model. I’m not sure how far along in the process of bringing this offering to life, but if research is your bag, this is the sort of work that broadens data samples required to measure new methods of treatment and can help consumers recover on a grand scale.
Like most of the systems we’ve seen, Utilization Review and Quality Assurance problems are avoided by the customer adding compliance rules to specific activities like treatment plan reviews coming due and insurance prior authorization renewals. This removes most of the labor intensive data management from these two functions, and transfers tasks to a sort of “informed policing” of data and activities.
Netsmart has acquired a number of EHRs over the years, as well as ePrescribing, on-line education and other options. This has made them the largest EHR provider in mental health and addictions treatment and worth a look if you’re a professional whose organization is in the market for an EHR.
Read more →They deserve a look.
If a professional group is looking for an Electronic Health Record (EHR), Defran deserves a look. Defran is an experienced company, having advanced through several versions of their software, and judging by a conversation I had with one of their folks recently, the software continues to evolve…good thing, as Evolv-CS is the name of their product.
One of the most important aspects of an EHR is the ability to maintain consumer confidentiality of records. It’s nobody else’s business that a person is receiving treatment, and the “user role” approach to security and defining home screens is similar to other products I’ve seen (I call that “standard technology”), and on the surface it seems well developed.
A question comes up frequently when people in the business of helping folks with mental health and addictions difficulties interview consumers, and that’s “How did you hear about us”. Most often, the answer is a referral from another professional, organization or consumer. Defran focuses heavily on referrals in their presentation, because that’s the marketing and intake process. I like this, simply because you learn some consumer history in that stage of business. I believe the more history you can have on a person and the sooner you can get it, the better you can understand a consumer’s need, and if you have the financial information captured, the sooner you can secure authorizations if they are needed in order to bill for pre- and post-admission services. The software’s work flow appears well thought out and flexible.
In fact, all workflows are flexible. The product comes with a field-level design tool that enables the design of screens according to the need of the staff doing the work. Another plus that involves the consumer. The consumer should probably be concerned that their professional is “getting it right” and good documentation helps with that concern.
The home page approach is flexible, with the same “drag and drop” functionality to move sub windows around on the screen. The home page can be designable by the user, so that particular user will have one-click access to any forms, documentation, messaging or activity scheduling they need. As the user flows from one screen to another, there are handy task bars at the bottom and top of the windows to access data that is too voluminous and varied to present on the front page of the user screen…this tabbed approach seems to be common among software products in our field. I like it.
From the home page, the professional manages the internal communications, tasks, and a few compliance items that show up; a professional can access his caseload, which displays a face sheet showing all documents pertaining to that consumer.
One thing I’d like to know more about is how Defran’s software assures that documentation meets requirements of accreditation agencies, state and federal government and various programs that may audit a professional agency. Software usually has some nifty tricks to assure certain information is gathered and later prove that it was gathered. I likely neglected to ask about that in the interview.
Defran has recently redesigned the front desk screen. That’s generally the way a person at the front desk will know where to direct the consumer and assure she gets the care she expects and needs. Since this is new, take a careful look at it if you’re interested in the software. I’d want to talk with other professionals who’ve used this functionality before I bought it.
Defran also stresses assessments a lot. Most of the facilities I’ve worked with used an intake assessment which includes a bio-psycho-social and a psychiatric assessment with few other assessments completed during the course of treatment. To a consumer this is a lot of paperwork.
It seemed to be of interest to the salesperson that we saw the assessment’s ability to use a radio-button selection capability to score an assessment. That is nothing new, however they did have a nice way of displaying the results of such outcomes measurements at the bottom of the assessment. Assessments also push data to the treatment plan, which is also common. These sorts of assessments deliver immediate direction to the professional and consumer for the course of treatment and points toward the next steps they may want to tackle.
The treatment plan is a high point, and would deserve more attention if I were purchasing an EHR. The layout is familiar to those who are familiar to the Wiley documentation, which is included at a fee.
Notes for group therapy are fabulous. The functionality does everything other software does, only with an original approach to the group not screen. I liked it, and I’m not going to even try to describe it, leaving it up to professionals to review.
With all this good stuff and a long time track record manufacturing software, you may ask if there are shortcomings. Well, the best answer to that question will be available by looking at the software and calling some folks using the EHR. Personally, I’d suggest talking with an independent consultant…but then I would.
Read more →It’s more than “Just the facts, Ma’am” .
Qualifacts Electronic Health Record (EHR) slices, dices, and combines consumer health information in an impressive manner. This EHR is geared toward mental health clinics, and is another product that appears to have all the pieces.
I was privy to a recent presentation of the software, and for the professional using assessments and other professional instruments to measure how a consumer is doing with ongoing treatment, the tools in the EHR look pretty good. The ability to include a few questions in a progress note with answers that can be plotted on a graph can help the professional and consumer zero in on what’s working in treatment; and that seems like signposts on the path to recovery.
Another tool that helps save some time for professionals is the ability to push data gathered in assessments directly to the treatment plan. If you’ve read my other reviews, you know this is nothing original, and that I feel it’s functionality necessary for success in today’s software world.
Billing seems to have all the pieces, and should a mental health or addictions treatment company move forward in the process, the billing functionality should be thoroughly researched. Due to the time allotted the presentation, I was unable to review this, and like any professionals, I’d want to be very careful with billing, since it holds the key to success with an enterprise-wide EHR.
In this age of data leaks, losses and thefts, a software company needs to do what they can to plug up the possibilities of data escaping. One of the things suggested by HIPAA is data encryption, and Qualifacts is in a minority of companies readily identifying their product and delivered environment as encrypted.
The report writer is an interesting approach. On the surface, it looks quite good, however it’s an integrated third party report writer, Panteho. Unlike Crystal Reports, which requires reports be written independent of some EHRs, this report writer is embedded into the program. The functionality seems fine, and the data dictionary looks superb at first glance. On the other hand, if I were checking out Qualifacts, I’d talk with Panteho, too. The idea is to feel good about Qualifacts receiving the maintenance and product improvements that are needed to keep up with technology as we move forward through the years. It’s likely not an issue, but it never hurts to ask questions like this.
The user interface (UI) could take some getting used to. I saw traditional design elements of systems like a persistent modular approach and needing to use several clicks to access a document from the user’s home page. From the home page, I really want one click access to tasks that need to be performed regularly like treatment plan updates and progress notes needing completion. In all fairness, I just because I didn’t see this as a consistent design element in Qualifacts doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Any system needs to be configured to meet workflow expectations of specific locations; it seemed like some items could be easily accessed, however, when a new item needed to be added, like an assessment, you had to go hunting through a lot of menus for it. This UI re-defines how a browser is used. The common look and feel of the menu bar that runs across the top is different than what internet-surfers are used to, even though it looks like the product is launched in the MS Internet Explorer. This is a pretty minor criticism considering every system takes some training and getting used to.
The look of the home page presents lists of tasks, scheduled appointments, documentation, and such. It makes it simple to pull up a consumer’s treatment documentation, and when documentation is easy to access, it’s more likely to actually be read.
Another design difference from some of the other EHRs lies in the way assessments are built. The facility builds assessments by selecting from components. Look at it like a suicide assessment is one component, and a mental status exam could be another component, and other sections are components of a bio-psych-social assessment that’s normally given at intake. They all add up to a lot of questions for the consumer, and that’s what an intake is like. Qualifacts uses the components to build the assessment, and then enables editing from there. The idea appears to be an attempt to cut down on the amount of work it takes to configure a system, and hopefully decrease the amount of time it takes to implement the software.
The treatment plan is a standard Wiley documentation approach. Problems-goals-objectives-interventions. As you proceed through each of these, context sensitive choices are presented. For example, a problem’s objectives list will present suggestions related to the selected problem. One thing to bear in mind is that the Wiley Libraries are available at a cost, and many mental health facilities forego the recurring fee and develop their own drop-down dictionaries, which can be a considerable task.
All-in-all, Qualifacts seems chock full of all the right stuff, and if you’re a professional whose employer is considering implementing an EHR, the software is worth a look, and if you like the User Interface and can get a half dozen or so positive references from appropriate customers, it’s worth more than a look.
Read more →Duke University.
To some professionals, that prestigious institution means a lot to the mental health field, simply because they have a program for professionals to earn a degree that’s stamped “Duke”“. That, in itself can mean a lot when the professional seeks a job, and to the consumer who really wants to find a well-educated professional to help manage and resolve difficult mental health problems. To me, “Duke’ means “MindLinc” an Electronic Medical Record (EMR). Note the difference from my usual software designation of Electronic Health Record (EHR). MindLinc is a quite complete EMR, however I see no billing component.
That may be a drawback or not, depending on an organization’s needs or not. If a mental health or addictions treatment facility has a billing system they absolutely love (strange thing to love, that), or wants to use AccuMedic’s billing software (see my previous post), MindLinc is an expert in interfacing. Interfacing is the skill, talent and result of a lot of hard work that makes two different software products talk to one another, and from what I saw, MindLinc’s folks have mastered that.
Although not all companies can boast such expertise, that’s not the impressive thing discovered during the initial overview I received recently. MindLinc customers have universally opted into a de-identified sharing of data from the MindLinc data warehouse. The value is evidenced in thousands of cases treating mental illness diagnoses’ common to mental health clinics and hospitals across the nation, and the results that have been entered into that database. This tool offers tremendous treatment guidance based on real treatment results. The implications of this to consumers is obvious…if the professional a consumer is seeing is using MindLinc, they both benefit from a tremendous number success stories; if that data is being leveraged in daily treatment, people might have an improved chance to feel better.
Families frequently participate in their loved ones’ treatment. In fact, family can deliver the greatest support because they are in closest contact with the consumer. A number of software programs have been challenged by connecting family records to a consumer’s records, however MindLinc appears to have an effective method of including those records as a vital, easily accessible aspect of treatment documentation.
From what I saw, MindLinc uses measurement scales in every form to measure progress and outcomes. The idea is to monitor treatment and how the consumer is doing, and if this monitoring shows a statistical trend of a declining payoff in successful treatment, the measurements may guide the professional to a more successful path. The scales tend to be a few simple questions asked that can be quite revealing and are asked regularly. The answers can be graphed to show increasing or declining results of treatment.
The User Interface is what I would call “old school”, and any facility looking for an EMR should take a close look at MindLinc to assure the fit will be easily grasped by the professionals who will be using the software…If users find software easy to use, they are more likely to add it into their daily routine as opposed to becoming reluctant users.
MindLinc has a singular approach to some documentation, like the treatment plan. “Problems”, which are a key part of treatment that needs to be focused on in most sessions, are stored in a different place than the treatment plan. Some professionals will love this, some will want to gravitate toward the traditional “tree” approach to documentation. It’s a matter of choice, so be sure to have both schools weigh in if your organization is looking for an EMR.
The software includes 350 forms and reports, so you theoretically don’t spend all your time developing forms. This is a plus on one hand, and says a little about the software company. Since they are part of Duke University, I’m certain a lot of thought has gone into the approach of the software and the forms that are included.
MindLinc has a different approach to the EMR than some of the other vendors out there. Especially if you’re not seeing what you like for your professionals, check them out.
Read more →It just might be the ticket to success.
I would assume professionals seeking a solo practice system probably wouldn’t want to pay the price for Anasazi Software or put in the work to implement it, however for mental health and addictions treatment organizations this Electronic Health Record (EHR) might be just the ticket.
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On the surface, Anasazi software looks a little more complicated to run than a number of EHRs being offered to Mental Health organizations today, and that’s a function of more robust functionality being available. It has to be robust to serve hundreds of professionals and securely manage thousands of consumer records. The software becomes less complicated as professionals’ home pages and other functionality is configured to meet the specific professional’s needs. Configuration is substantial for billing, but in the end technical professionals find it works like they’d expect, quite standard and direct, which is largely considered doing it the right way from the technical point of view. Billing and Clinical functionalities are integrated well with two different worlds of responsibility that are transparent to one another.
There was a time, I didn’t want to talk about the prescribing functionality in this software, and today medication orders are much smoother, streamlined and quicker for the prescriber to use than when I first reviewed the module a couple years ago.
In case you don’t know, state governments can be particular about reporting data about consumers. First and foremost, reporting needs to be secure, so consumer information doesn’t leak out and violate HIPAA requirements for consumer confidentiality. Next, they need everybody who’s reporting to them to be reporting the same data, and when it’s electronically reported, it needs to be in a common format. For example, in New York, the NYSCRI forms are purported to be the wave of the future and EHR manufacturers like Anasazi need to offer the forms as part of their product. Currently Anasazi offers 22 of the NYSCRI forms and as requirements and desire to use the remaining forms arise, the sales person I talked to promised they will be included into the system. This seems a sensible approach to these sometimes daunting forms. By the way, I’ve known the sales person a long time and believe what he says.
Meaningful Use incentives enable mental health and addictions facilities to recoup some (if not all) the cost of implementing the EHR. Anasazi’s approach to Meaningful Use is commendable. They began training in securing MU incentives at the last user group meeting, and they use a “launch pad” with built in reports to assure the requirements are being met to earn the incentives. The setup is where the work comes in, and after this feature is set up, the monitoring is simple enough with the reports.
When I first saw Anasazi’s WYSYWIG design tools a couple years ago, I was not impressed. The tool has matured, and has enabled a solid level of customer development of forms, drag-and-drop indexing and other features…design tools are a must for organizations who don’t want to pay for expensive programming unless absolutely necessary.
OK, you may ask, with all this praise, are there any drawbacks? Sure, nothing in this world is flawless, and it’s usually a matter of opinion. If I were seeking an EHR, I’d have my Information Technology expert ask about the “back end” architecture and the tools like middleware that come into play during the development process. This is not to say there’s anything necessarily wrong with the foundation of Anasazi, just that it’s good to be aware of what goes into building the software you’re purchasing.
There are other companies serving the sector who have more experience in Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), and since consumers receive care from multiple professionals, and since the federal government has included EDI as a requirement in proving an EHR is used meaningfully, Anasazi has focused more on this lately. I’d want to know more about their successes.
The company behind the software is of primary importance. Recently, Anasazi has bolstered its’ technical staff and has completed a number of enhancements to the software that were requested by the national user group. It sounds like Anasazi is poised to expand its share of the software market.
Read more →It’s new! Relatively speaking.
Within the past few years, AccuMedic’s AccuMed software has been appearing in mental health clinics as their Electronic Health Record (EHR). AccuMed has a long history as a billing software manufacturer, and now the clinical documentation is becoming more commonly seen, especially in New York, where AccuMedic has two EMR customers in NYC and two more on Long Island. There are more around the country.
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AccuMed appears to have all the commonly needed pieces in place for clinical documentation. On top of that I hear the billing system is dandy. That makes it an enterprise EHR.
As a software implementer, I appreciate the all-in-one approach. Modules are fine, however, an EHR works better if clinical documents are related to one another, like the assessment feeding information to the treatment plan, the progress notes being able to grab data from that treatment plan AND have all that related to a charge and a bill for easy access to documents important to insurance billing…all this information is usually available in a list on the screen or a quick report in a good EHR.
This approach to clinical forms and flexibility are becoming “industry standard” and is used by many software vendors.
This EHR’s functionality includes a flexible approach to some nifty state-recommended forms, enabling the customer to use them or not, and the built in design tools enable modification of forms to arrive at documentation that meets the needs of a particular facility, usually without involving expensive programming time. A third party report writer is purported to be easier to use than Crystal Reports (the industry standard report writer), yet just as robust. Now, a run of the mill one-to-three professional office that serves 90 consumers may be hesitant to pay the price tag for AccuMed, but the up side to small and medium sized behavioral health clinics is solid…from what I saw, it’s worth the money if a clinic has 50 users or more.
The “homepage” approach that is becoming the standard for user interfaces consumers and professionals see on the internet these days is in place, and while the look of the sub-windows for services, tasks, notes, etc. is a bit boxy and looks like a series of lists, the page does enable “one-click” access to about any consumer document you’d like, whether writing a new one or reviewing treatment history. This benefits the consumer, simply because a professional is more likely to look at a document if he doesn’t have to search for it, and that could be critical in a therapy or group counseling session.
Drag-and-drop functionality to re-index these sub-windows aids navigation and records searches and seems to work fine. It’s also worth noting that users can add data columns to these lists “on the fly”.
I talked to one of the sales guys for AccuMedic, and he says the billing module is effective in deducting services from authorizations as they are performed, which is a response to an early complaint. This lets us know the company responds to requests to enhance functionality where it makes sense.
The appointment screen looks a bit busy, however, at the same time it looks functional. Some fields may not be needed, and if your organization is interested in purchasing an EHR it might be good to address hiding unneeded data elements that are not necessary to your organization’s scheduling process.
I walked away with some questions about the treatment plan’s handling of drop down selections in recording the consumer’s problem/goal/objectives, and how related they are to one another…in other words do different suggestions for goals show up when I select different problems?
I also wonder how the system is rolled out. There’s a difference in an EHR project and an EHR product. Before I bought AccuMed, I’d want to know details about how software upgrades are handled…if a programmer is required, that means the installation is an EHR project, which is a labor intensive way to do business. Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it just takes more of work on the part of the vendor.
No software receives 100% approval from a prospective customer. AccuMed receives a high enough score that I’d certainly like to see more information about AccuMed, as well as an on-site presentation. My hunch is that it’s a fine product and a good group of folks to work with.
Read more →I had to chuckle when I read “user-friendly” in a recent list of demands from software.
We’ve been trying to capture that goal for the Electronic Health Record (EHR) on the personal computer since the pioneering days of the 1980s, and we keep working. The result has been software that’s pretty user friendly these days, and that’s part of the message Amazing Charts is trying to get across about its EHR.
I like the part on the web site that says Amazing Charts is low-cost, and so do professionals in this business. Now, “low-cost” is a relative term, and before I spill the beans on the dollars, it’s important to know what the heck is available in this package.
User Friendly
When using an EHR It seems it can take “dozens of clicks” to get things done in many aging software packages, and although a general exaggeration, more than three clicks to get to a progress note is too many, neighbor…professionals find software navigation is often tedious and wish for a simple approach, which is what Amazing Charts claims in describing their process flow. To this end, the Amazing Charts website indicates the system is sensitive to your workflow. This is a big deal to me and if you’re looking for software the secret to this sort of success is to make sure it’s configurable to your needs with design tools to make the treatment notes, assessments, reports and treatment plans your own. Working with a software company’s rigid idea of a document can be a pain. Many software vendors need to pay one of their programmers to do work like this, and pass the charge along to the customer; it’s another thing to inquire about. If the tools are available, make sure you have somebody with time and the aptitude to use them and make the software work for you.
Meaningful Use This is a good one. The Office of the National Coordinator requires certification in order to collect the incentives of over $60,000 for every prescribing professional using the software. I’ve written many posts tracking this, and am a proponent of taking advantage of these incentives; they can more than pay for the system. Amazing Charts has a testimonial from a customer that’s received a check from Medicare. Medicaid is part of the program in most states.
Hardware Unless I missed something, this may be a drawback to some folks. Amazing Charts appears to be deployed on a local server (which the professional treatment organization must buy and support, which carries an annual cost), and is not delivered via the web. Many professionals want the server hosted by a technical organization and deployed via the web, others don’t; there are pros and cons both ways, so consult with somebody like yours truly before you buy.
Interfaces One of the major concerns in purchasing an EHR is interfaces to other software either on a Behavioral Health organization’s practice management software or sources of data that can be securely accessed over the web like laboratory and pharmacy programs. It’s much better to receive outside data on a patient electronically for two reasons: you don’t have to pay somebody to enter the results into the computer and because humans aren’t involved, the data that does go into the system tends to be more accurate. At first blush, Amazing Charts gets an “A+” in this area.
Other Stuff Amazing charts includes a scheduling module, electronic prescribing that’s Sure-Scripts certified and an internal messaging system for multiple provider organizations. Nice. A superbill can be generated, and insurance billing appears to be via a billing service, which can be worth the price if a professional is busy enough to need help with this. You can even review a chart on your smart phone for an after-hours call with the app. This is another “A+”
Price $1,995 per user is a reasonable price. A three month trial period is a good idea for any software company simply because after the ordeal of implementing software and getting used to having it around, a professional isn’t likely to dump it. Ongoing software support is $995, which seems a bit steep until I look at it as less than $83 a month…look at software support as insurance; it’s just something you gotta have. They’re maintaining a healthy GPA regarding price.
If I were buying, I’d want to know more about Amazing Charts specific Behavioral Health penetration. I am old-school in serving mental health and addictions and it remains clear to me that these disciplines of treatment are special. There’s a lot of talk about physicians on their website, and this is fine if you’re a mental health professional working a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) or are partnered with an MD. With the integration of care and the relationships that seem to be building among professionals providing treatment for ills of the body, mind and spirit in the same facility, there’s value to the ability to track all this.
After all is said and done a behavioral health professional considering Amazing Charts should talk to a few people in a 200 mile radius that are using the software, and if it still seems like a good idea, make sure it meets your professional needs and workflow processes.
Read more →As I threatened recently, here’s another Electronic HealthRecord (EHR) review for software that’s appropriate for small private practices…I guess.
ClaimTrack has been around since 1990, and I’ve known one of their vice presidents for many years. The longevity speaks for the company, and the staff I know has always seemed like straight-shooters.
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ClaimTrak offers a bundle of requirements that I feel are necessary in an EHR. A key for the private practice market is not only the availability of a web-based platform (being able to access the software via a secure internet connection), but being able to install it and use it on a simple PC. It seems you can have ClaimTrak about any way you want it.
…and there’s another important feature important to psychiatrists, it’s certified to meet meaningful use requirements.
I’m happy to discover that ClaimTrak has a Treatment Plan. Anybody who’s followed my opinions on clinical functionality knows I’m a proponent of collaborative treatment with a consumer. It seems hard to do that without a treatment plan. The aspect of this to look into is the custom features of the treatment plan…there are as many plan preferences as there are professionals, so if you’re looking into products, make sure it’s modifiable and fine-tunable.
A number of billing programs for our sector of business seem to be developed-as-you-go. The descriptions I’ve read say that’s not the case for ClaimTrak, with all the standard requirements like being able to handle Medicare, Medicaid and insurance billing with a co-pay for the same claim…sounds like a snoozer, but our professionals need to bill correctly or they won’t be working for the consumers for long. I’m also a big fan of being able to save the progress note for a given session and create a billable record automatically…another vital snoozer.
A peer of mine, David Lloyd, who’s well known for designing state systems for efficiency in our business says that central scheduling is a key to building a better mouse trap. In a small, busy practice with few people around to help with the work, and where consumers may be waiting for an appointment, a good scheduling module can help fill the blank spots when an appointment is canceled. ClaimTrak’s scheduling module seems to be complete, enabling professionals to review their appointments a number of ways, and it’s tied into the billing module, so if the schedule is marked as complete, the indicated service could be billed if that’s the professional’s preference. The rage these days is for a schedule to look like MS Outlook, and ClaimTrak doesn’t seem to fill that bill. To me, that’s of secondary importance, since patient confidentiality is met by isolating the appointment from the rest of the world out there, which isn’t necessarily true with Outlook.
In order to qualify as an eligible professional and collect Meaningful Use incentives, being able to write and track the order in the EHR is required, as is the ability to electronically share that prescribing information. This keeps the professionals treating the patient aware of (hopefully) all medications prescribed, so the treating professionals know to avoid a drug interaction. ClaimTrak addresses this issue well enough to meet the requirement, and even has a Mediation Administration Module to record how the medication administration is going. My advice to the professional is to call up for a demonstration, then check it out again a couple weeks later after seeing a couple other products…Some products just don’t fit some people’s preferences, and it’s frustrating both for the vendor and the customer when that happens.
Dashboards are becoming a standard of efficiency in an EHR. This functionality enables different sorts of users (counselors, receptionists, etc) to gather a series of reported figures and access points to functionality, like notes or billing, and for another user on the system to have a different dashboard that better suits his workflow…pretty slick. I didn’t see that sort of thing going on in ClaimTrak, so a professional should be sure to ask about that feature if shopping.
If a professional has a partner, or a receptionist, or somebody else they work with, a valuable tool is communicating within the EHR. This is important in order to maintain consumer confidentiality, and it can be tough texting or Emailing patient information and to avoild breaking HIPAA requirements. I was unable to pull up any references to built-in, HIPAA compliant inter-office messaging system, but in a smaller practice that could be of little importance.
All in all, I was pleased in what I saw. Right about now, you’re likely wondering how much all these wonderful capabilities cost…click on the link above and give them a call.
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