Behavioral health specialists have a unique set of clinical distinctions that set them apart from other medical specialties.
Simply put, mental health specialists must have a specialty-specific Behavioral Health Software in order to work most effectively. Software designed for other medical specialties usually lacks what professionals in the mental health field need to accomplish their goals.
Impact of Good Software
1) Improve Client-Provider Relationship
Quality behavioral health software offers providers resources to improve their relationships with their clients. With improved access to information, simple scheduling, visit alternatives, and client reminders, clients battling behavioral health diagnoses are provided a better patient experience than with other specialists who lack these tools.
2) Creates a More Productive Workflow
Behavioral health software equipped with efficiency-driving solutions enables providers to work more quickly, accurately, and effectively. Quality software improves the documenting process so that it takes less time, returning the provider to their clients.
3) Grow Your Revenue
With the right behavioral health software, providers can drastically increase the number of timely payments that their mental health practice receives each month. With improved billing workflow and an increase in clean claims, your practice can earn more for the services they provide.
Features that Identify Quality Behavioral Health Software
1) Client Engagement Tools
Client engagement is even more important in the field of mental health than some other specialties. Due to the complexities of mental health, if a client is not engaged in their care, there can be sometimes dangerous consequences. Keeping your clients engaged and involved in the progress of their mental health care is essential to reaching more positive outcomes. With a quality behavioral health software, your clients gain access to client engagement tools like a digital communication hub, where they can reach out to their provider with questions and concerns.
2) Simple Scheduling
Simple scheduling is another useful indicator of quality behavioral health software as it encourages, empowers, and enables your clients to schedule appointments online. Many mental health clients hesitate to schedule appointments sometimes as a result of the stigma on mental health or the possibility that they do not know much about it. A simple online scheduling option gives clients the power to decide which appointment works best for them and cancel if something comes up.
3) Visit Alternative
Some clients struggle to make it into the practice for their visits. This can happen for a multitude of reasons. Some being a lack of transportation, chronic conditions, or the fact that their life is just busy. For this reason, it is important that your behavioral health software offer visit alternative solutions such as telehealth or e-visits. Having a remote option for care offers clients with behavioral health conditions the ability to meet with their provider wherever it is most convenient and comfortable for them.
4) Specialty-Specific Tools
Mentioned before, behavioral health specialists have a unique set of clinical distinctions that set them apart from many other specialties. It is vital that your behavioral health software reflect these distinctions with specialty-specific tools built for mental health. This should include customizable documentation templates, screening tools, a list of the most used prescriptions, and medical billing codes that apply to your practice.
5) Mental Health Billing
In the past, there were only a handful of medical billing codes that applied to mental health services. As the stigma towards mental health has been worn down over time, more billing codes are being created to cover behavioral health services. Your behavioral health software needs to be completely integrated with a mental health billing solution that makes it simple for you to code and file your claims, improving clean claims up to 99%.
