Psychiatric practices are always in need of improved administrative processes to boost productivity and enhance accuracy. Unfortunately, many psychiatrists who continue to rely on writing or dictating their notes and maintaining paper records may find these goals difficult to achieve.
Just think about the many rows of filing cabinets necessary to contain patient histories, billing records and other important documents gathered over a decade or more of practicing psychiatry. And if that wasn't bad enough, try explaining how to locate a specific record or file on a former patient to a new administrative employee. It is because of this system that many psychiatry practices have difficulty adjusting to the pace and risks of the 21st century. People expect a level of speed, access and accuracy that paper methods of filing simply cannot provide.
What options are available to help psychiatry practices become more efficient while still delivering a higher standard of care to patients? The best solution is to implement an electronic medical record (EMR) or electronic health record (EHR) system. The right psychiatry EMR or psychiatry EHR can significantly streamline daily operations for a psychiatry practice. A few of the ways a psychiatry EMR can benefit you are as follows.
Tracking scheduled appointments
The relationship between a patient and clinician frequently lasts for an extended period of time. The psychiatrist may begin treating a patient for one particular issue or diagnosis, and as a result of the effectiveness of that treatment and the psychiatrist's skill, the doctor-patient connection may become a long-term trust.
Mental health practices typically have a full patient caseload with widely varying appointment frequencies. Effectively managing patient appointments and records can be a daunting challenge for both the psychiatrist and staff. Implementing the right EHR or EMR can make keeping track of patients more manageable. Patient portals make it possible for patients to schedule their appointments on the internet, and each appointment can be automatically linked to the patient's digital psychiatric chart, notes http://www.HealthIT.gov.
This means that mental health professionals are able to navigate through all of their patients' appointments while also brushing up on relevant notes and data well in advance. The technology also allows for more direct communication between visits.
Using less paper
Most people would be astonished to learn how costly paper records can be for mental health practices. The cost of the paper itself really adds up over time, especially for practices with a high volume of regular patients. In addition, there is the expense of maintaining those paper records. Behavioral.net says that it costs practices $8 per record each year to track, file, audit, and manage paper charts...in addition to the huge amount of physical space required to store the paper files.
Even more important than these expenses is the amount of time psychiatrists spend managing paper charts. About 30 minutes of a psychiatrist's day is consumed by updating paper files. Although this may not seem like a large loss, a psychiatry practice employing 40 clinicians loses almost $208,000 annually due to paper recordkeeping, according to the source. Converting from paper to electronic records means significant savings in both time and money.
Increased patient flow
By converting from paper to electronic mental health records boosts efficiency and reduces the burden on a psychiatry practice's busy staff. Psychiatrists are able to spend more time working directly with patients. EHR Institute reports that clinicians using EMRs are able to take more accurate and detailed notes in less time, which translates to better patient care. In addition, it results in fewer factual errors and reduces the need to double-check medical histories, both of which can interfere with therapeutic progress.
This benefits patients as it expedites the treatment of their mental disorders. EMRs enable psychiatry practices to serve more patients, which in turn enhances the practice's revenue. The American Academy of Family Physicians reports that more accurate coding and billing can improve billable gains by $26 for each patient encounter. Additional revenue is a benefit that all behavioral health clinicians can appreciate.
Just think about the many rows of filing cabinets necessary to contain patient histories, billing records and other important documents gathered over a decade or more of practicing psychiatry. And if that wasn't bad enough, try explaining how to locate a specific record or file on a former patient to a new administrative employee. It is because of this system that many psychiatry practices have difficulty adjusting to the pace and risks of the 21st century. People expect a level of speed, access and accuracy that paper methods of filing simply cannot provide.
What options are available to help psychiatry practices become more efficient while still delivering a higher standard of care to patients? The best solution is to implement an electronic medical record (EMR) or electronic health record (EHR) system. The right psychiatry EMR or psychiatry EHR can significantly streamline daily operations for a psychiatry practice. A few of the ways a psychiatry EMR can benefit you are as follows.
Tracking scheduled appointments
The relationship between a patient and clinician frequently lasts for an extended period of time. The psychiatrist may begin treating a patient for one particular issue or diagnosis, and as a result of the effectiveness of that treatment and the psychiatrist's skill, the doctor-patient connection may become a long-term trust.
Mental health practices typically have a full patient caseload with widely varying appointment frequencies. Effectively managing patient appointments and records can be a daunting challenge for both the psychiatrist and staff. Implementing the right EHR or EMR can make keeping track of patients more manageable. Patient portals make it possible for patients to schedule their appointments on the internet, and each appointment can be automatically linked to the patient's digital psychiatric chart, notes http://www.HealthIT.gov.
This means that mental health professionals are able to navigate through all of their patients' appointments while also brushing up on relevant notes and data well in advance. The technology also allows for more direct communication between visits.
Using less paper
Most people would be astonished to learn how costly paper records can be for mental health practices. The cost of the paper itself really adds up over time, especially for practices with a high volume of regular patients. In addition, there is the expense of maintaining those paper records. Behavioral.net says that it costs practices $8 per record each year to track, file, audit, and manage paper charts...in addition to the huge amount of physical space required to store the paper files.
Even more important than these expenses is the amount of time psychiatrists spend managing paper charts. About 30 minutes of a psychiatrist's day is consumed by updating paper files. Although this may not seem like a large loss, a psychiatry practice employing 40 clinicians loses almost $208,000 annually due to paper recordkeeping, according to the source. Converting from paper to electronic records means significant savings in both time and money.
Increased patient flow
By converting from paper to electronic mental health records boosts efficiency and reduces the burden on a psychiatry practice's busy staff. Psychiatrists are able to spend more time working directly with patients. EHR Institute reports that clinicians using EMRs are able to take more accurate and detailed notes in less time, which translates to better patient care. In addition, it results in fewer factual errors and reduces the need to double-check medical histories, both of which can interfere with therapeutic progress.
This benefits patients as it expedites the treatment of their mental disorders. EMRs enable psychiatry practices to serve more patients, which in turn enhances the practice's revenue. The American Academy of Family Physicians reports that more accurate coding and billing can improve billable gains by $26 for each patient encounter. Additional revenue is a benefit that all behavioral health clinicians can appreciate.
About the Author:
ICANotes has been making mental health practices more efficient for more than 14 years. Learn how you can create narrative mental health progress notes in two minutes with no typing or dictating. Take a free trial of our mental health EMR today.
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