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.
Scheduling and tracking 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.
Unfortunately for patients, they must often share a mental health professional's time with many other people -- especially at larger practices. In addition, long stretches of time can pass between a patient's appointments. Luckily, implementing EMRs and EHRs can make keeping track of patients far more manageable for psychiatrists and their staff members. Not only can patients instantly schedule their appointments via digital avenues, but electronic records can then link these appointments directly to treatment progress notes through an integrated system, 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.
Becoming paperless
People might be surprised to learn how inefficient and costly paper charts are for psychiatrists. The initial cost of the paper, files, and envelopes can be a significant expense, particularly for psychiatry practices with a heavy patient caseload. Maintaining those paper records can also be expensive. According to Behavioral Healthcare, a practice loses about $8 per record every year to maintain, track, file, and audit paper files...in addition to losing precious office space to store all of those paper charts.
Perhaps even more significant than these losses is the time spent by care providers handling paper charts. A psychiatrist can spend about 30 minutes every day dealing with physical records. While this might not sound like a major drain on resources, according to the source, a practice that employs 40 clinicians can lose nearly $208,000 per year due to paper record-keeping practices. However, taking an entire practice's worth of files and storing them digitally thanks to an EMR or EHR system means savings in time and money.
More efficient patient flow
The upside of working more efficiently and reducing the resource drain of paper records is that psychiatrists spend more time on patient care. According to EHR Institute, clinicians using EMRs are able to create notes with a higher level of detail and accuracy in less time, which can lead to delivering a higher quality of care. The end result is fewer factual errors and a reduced need to double-check medical histories which can slow 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.
Scheduling and tracking 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.
Unfortunately for patients, they must often share a mental health professional's time with many other people -- especially at larger practices. In addition, long stretches of time can pass between a patient's appointments. Luckily, implementing EMRs and EHRs can make keeping track of patients far more manageable for psychiatrists and their staff members. Not only can patients instantly schedule their appointments via digital avenues, but electronic records can then link these appointments directly to treatment progress notes through an integrated system, 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.
Becoming paperless
People might be surprised to learn how inefficient and costly paper charts are for psychiatrists. The initial cost of the paper, files, and envelopes can be a significant expense, particularly for psychiatry practices with a heavy patient caseload. Maintaining those paper records can also be expensive. According to Behavioral Healthcare, a practice loses about $8 per record every year to maintain, track, file, and audit paper files...in addition to losing precious office space to store all of those paper charts.
Perhaps even more significant than these losses is the time spent by care providers handling paper charts. A psychiatrist can spend about 30 minutes every day dealing with physical records. While this might not sound like a major drain on resources, according to the source, a practice that employs 40 clinicians can lose nearly $208,000 per year due to paper record-keeping practices. However, taking an entire practice's worth of files and storing them digitally thanks to an EMR or EHR system means savings in time and money.
More efficient patient flow
The upside of working more efficiently and reducing the resource drain of paper records is that psychiatrists spend more time on patient care. According to EHR Institute, clinicians using EMRs are able to create notes with a higher level of detail and accuracy in less time, which can lead to delivering a higher quality of care. The end result is fewer factual errors and a reduced need to double-check medical histories which can slow 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. Discover how you can create narrative mental health progress notes in two minutes with no typing or dictating. Take a free test drive of our mental health EMR today.
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