Heard Any of this Before? 

None of our other clients are having the issues you are having.

Our other clients have been able to figure this out.

You haven’t spent enough time training on the software.

Who can we work with at your practice that will get it?

How comfortable are you with software?

Helping behavioral health providers find the right electronic health records software is our business.  There are so many choices, the entire process of finding the best EHR can be daunting.  Even more of a challenge is moving from one EHR to another.  Many mental health organizations will stay on a system that did a great job of getting them off of paper, but is not robust enough to keep their practice moving forward.  

We were recently asked to describe the moment in our personal journey into the world of behavioral health electronic health record software and record cycle management where we stopped simply selling and became true provider advocates.  

How did this happen?  

Why did this happen?

In our research it had become apparent that the behavioral healthcare market was not likely to be the most profitable.  As a matter of fact we learned that many EHR vendors avoid serving this community entirely.  Although there may be many reasons, one obvious factor is that it’s patients may not be among the wealthiest of the patient communities.  In fact, insurance reimbursements are lower than many other segments.  Mental health advocates feel that the rules and regulations they must follow are often stringent and highly-regulated.  It is definitely a niche market. 

The SIM Grant

State Innovation Model Grant

When our phone starts ringing off the hook with questions about additional funding for mental and behavioral health providers and organizations, we pay attention.  We have put together some information for our providers and have created our Behavioral Health EHR recommendation list for organizations applying for this funding.  It is important to make sure the EHR is right for your practice.  In one phone call we can help you determine which vendors you should be working with and those you shouldn’t.  Contact us for a complete assessment.  

The State Innovation Models Initiative will be awarding as much as $300 million to participating states and will focus on healthcare organizations that have a high number of Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

There are about 2,500 electronic health record systems. There are quite a few that specialize in behavioral health and others that cover just about any specialty but may include behavioral health. As a consultant to the EHR industry I have watched endless demos and received pricing that ranges from free to a sixty thousand dollar setup fee. Salespeople are a funny breed, especially those in the EHR industry. I spent about three years selling several EHR’s myself. What I found interesting is not what a consumer will find on Software Advice or Capterra. There is a lot of demo trickery, so buyer beware.