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.
If you are still keeping paper records, just think how much office space is consumed by the filing cabinets needed to store those charts. In addition, training new office staff on how to find a particular record or patient file can be complex. Ever try to locate a lost or misplaced chart? These days people expect a level of ease and accessibility to records that paper filing methods are unable to provide. Switching to electronic records can save your psychiatry practice time and precious space.
So how can psychiatrists make their practices more efficient while simultaneously providing their patients with a higher standard of care? Electronic medical records (EMRs) and electronic health records (EHRs) are the latest wave in integrated technology for psychiatric professionals -- allowing them to streamline and enhance a number of daily operations in their practices. Here are a few of the benefits that psychiatry EMRs and EHRs provide.
Tracking scheduled appointments
A patient's relationship with his or her psychiatrist can often last for long periods of time. While a patient may initially seek treatment for a specific problem or issue, if they find that treatment effective or the clinician's expertise valuable, the connection with that clinician may evolve into a long-term trusted connection.
Unfortunately, a behavioral health professional frequently treats many patients, with varying lengths of time between each patient's next appointment. This can make keeping track of those patients challenging for both the psychiatrist and his or her staff. Fortunately, EMRs and EHRs can make this challenge more manageable. Patients can schedule their own appointments online, and the EMR can link these appointments to the patient's mental health chart automatically, making front office processes much more efficient.
This makes it simple for psychiatrists to access all patient appointments while becoming reacquainted with the patient's case and diagnosis prior to each visit. EHR / EMR technology can also facilitate secure electronic communication with patients between visits.
Reducing paper demands
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.
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.
More efficient patient flow
The flipside to maximizing efficiency and reducing the demands of resources necessitated by paper records is that psychiatrists can spend more time directly working with patients in need. EHR Institute states that those who use EMRs can take more accurate and detailed notes quickly, which can translate to a higher quality of care during appointments. This also means a reduced number of factual errors and double-checking of medical histories that can impede therapeutic progress.
In addition to benefiting patients by getting them access to the treatment they need more efficiently, EMRs also enable psychiatrists and staff to treat a higher volume of patients. This leads to more revenue for the practice. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, more precise coding and more accurate billing can result in billable gains of $26 per encounter. Higher revenue is an end result that all psychiatrists can live with.
If you are still keeping paper records, just think how much office space is consumed by the filing cabinets needed to store those charts. In addition, training new office staff on how to find a particular record or patient file can be complex. Ever try to locate a lost or misplaced chart? These days people expect a level of ease and accessibility to records that paper filing methods are unable to provide. Switching to electronic records can save your psychiatry practice time and precious space.
So how can psychiatrists make their practices more efficient while simultaneously providing their patients with a higher standard of care? Electronic medical records (EMRs) and electronic health records (EHRs) are the latest wave in integrated technology for psychiatric professionals -- allowing them to streamline and enhance a number of daily operations in their practices. Here are a few of the benefits that psychiatry EMRs and EHRs provide.
Tracking scheduled appointments
A patient's relationship with his or her psychiatrist can often last for long periods of time. While a patient may initially seek treatment for a specific problem or issue, if they find that treatment effective or the clinician's expertise valuable, the connection with that clinician may evolve into a long-term trusted connection.
Unfortunately, a behavioral health professional frequently treats many patients, with varying lengths of time between each patient's next appointment. This can make keeping track of those patients challenging for both the psychiatrist and his or her staff. Fortunately, EMRs and EHRs can make this challenge more manageable. Patients can schedule their own appointments online, and the EMR can link these appointments to the patient's mental health chart automatically, making front office processes much more efficient.
This makes it simple for psychiatrists to access all patient appointments while becoming reacquainted with the patient's case and diagnosis prior to each visit. EHR / EMR technology can also facilitate secure electronic communication with patients between visits.
Reducing paper demands
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.
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.
More efficient patient flow
The flipside to maximizing efficiency and reducing the demands of resources necessitated by paper records is that psychiatrists can spend more time directly working with patients in need. EHR Institute states that those who use EMRs can take more accurate and detailed notes quickly, which can translate to a higher quality of care during appointments. This also means a reduced number of factual errors and double-checking of medical histories that can impede therapeutic progress.
In addition to benefiting patients by getting them access to the treatment they need more efficiently, EMRs also enable psychiatrists and staff to treat a higher volume of patients. This leads to more revenue for the practice. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, more precise coding and more accurate billing can result in billable gains of $26 per encounter. Higher revenue is an end result that all psychiatrists can live with.
About the Author:
ICANotes has been making mental health practices more efficient for more than 14 years. Learn how you can create narrative psychiatric progress notes in two minutes with no typing or dictating. Take a free trial of our mental health EMR today.
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