In today’s world of convenience, it is simple to search for a product or service you need online, order it, and move on with your life with very little interruption. Often, once a consumer has received their product or service, they never have contact with the vendor again. Their transaction over, there is no need for additional communication.

In the health industry, however, particularly in the field of behavioral health, it is much more important that the patient and doctor build a relationship of trust. Several factors can be involved in a patient’s physical and mental state, and past relationships can be crucial in diagnosing and treating the patient and maintaining the patient’s health.

What is a Community Mental Health organization to do when it is time to make the switch from one Behavioral Health EHR to another?

They start planning.

They outline what isn’t working about their current system and plan out their goals for transitioning to a new EHR that can better handle their needs. Sometimes the first jump into an electronic health record system is successful only in that it transitions the agency off a paper-based system and educates the staff about what kinds of features they want in a new system.

Oh the travails of Behavioral Health EHR vendors! Sometimes they are cringe worthy from what is appropriate marketing material to how slow and outdated a product actually is and how that impacts a mental health agency. 

We do love technology and so appreciate the vendors that service behavioral health with integrity, innovation, maturity, and best-in-class products and services. 

Today we interview our CEO, Kristin Walker.  She has a lot to say about electronic health record vendors and revenue cycle management companies that service Behavioral Health. It’s no-holds-barred as usual and we’ll discuss just who has access to patient mental health records from Revenue Cycle Management organizations to Electronic Health Record vendors. We’ll shine a spotlight on why this is important to agencies and providers. 

She also answers questions from our listeners about what she does, why she does it, and why her radio show and Behavioral Health are her passions.

LISTEN TO THE SHOW!

 The Nuts and Bolts of Consultancy in Behavioral Healthcare

Why You Need Us—and How We Can Help

The healthcare system as a whole is a complex compilation of providers, insurers, administrators, and vendors. And although the end goal is always to better the health of patients, healthcare is also a business. That business part of healthcare, just as with any venture that involves dollar signs, brings out the best in some, the worst in others. We see it as our job—our passion—to help organizations wade through the behavioral health market to match the best products with the right providers to ensure the best care. And as we’ve found, much of that work involves finding the right people.

As part of our commitment to The Samaritan Institute we have asked our colleagues to host a series of webinars designed specifically for behavioral health providers.

 Samaritan Network Webinar Offerings

 The Samaritan Institute has partnered with Advantage Consulting, LLC, everythingEHR, and Roy Huggins of Person-Centered Tech to provide FREE webinars to the Samaritan Network on topics related to HIPAA and Technology, Fundamentals of Mental Health Service Evaluation, as well as Electronic Health Record Systems.

The first offering, “HIPAA and Security” will be held on Monday, December 15; with more to come in early 2015, including a four part series related to “Planning and Implementing Clinical Outcome Measures Activities.” While you are encouraged to attend the live sessions in order to participate in the question and answer dialogue, the webinars will also be recorded for viewing as your schedule allows. Ongoing consultation in these areas continues to be available to Centers as needed.   Kristin Walker of everythingEHR will be moderating all of the sessions below.

Work: An Intimate Act

Intimacy, the workplace, and EHR adoption…it reads like a joke. The kind that uses the bizarre coupling of concepts and leads to the punchline, “…so the duck says, “Put it on my bill.””

Yet, as a caregiver committed to organizational fitness I believe that a broader view of population health is where we are headed. And now that the ACA is actively defining ‘workplace wellness’, there has never been a more perfect time to explore the relational overlap of work, intimacy, and EHR adoption.

Talking about personal interactions at work implies a relatively new demand being placed on the work environment; one for sustainability that refers to personal as well as professional systems. Not that ‘relations’ haven’t always been a part of management concerns. But with the continued lengthening of work hours and decline in job security – stressors not softened by social supports like paid family leave and universal child care – interpersonal dynamics often associated with private life are making the scary leap into the workplace. And as leaders promoting the bandwidth for this conversation, it may feel risky at times – but probably not as much as we fear.

CE Offerings from Person Centered Tech

Listen to our podcast with founder and Behavioral Health HIPAA Expert Roy Huggins, LPC

Digital Confidentiality LIVE Webinar Series (6 Ethics CE Hours Total)

everythingEHR readers receive a 15% discount on our events. Just use this coupon code at registration:EHRANDMORE