Guide to Choosing an EHR: For Counselors, Therapists, and Other Wellness Professionals

The Guide to Choosing an EHR For Counselors, Therapists, and Other Wellness Professionals provides a five-step process for choosing and implementing an EHR (aka EMR/Practice Management System), suitable for solo clinicians as well as practices and agencies of all sizes. Through a series of checklists, the Guide provides a streamlined, simplified process. The core concepts and five-step process apply to other wellness professionals and small medical practices, though the book is written with a focus on mental health professionals. The Guide walks readers through assessing all the features, goals, and needs they expect an EHR to meet. By compiling those needs into a Requirements Document, readers can then choose a “best fit” EHR for their practice. Also included are tips for implementation and maintenance, as well as supporting information about available features in EHRs, HIPAA compliance, Meaningful Use, Health Information Exchanges, Cloud or SaaS solutions, and more. Rob Reinhardt is a Licensed Professional Counselor and CEO of Tame Your Practice. Known for his reviews of behavioral health EHR, Rob has spent years helping other mental health practices and agencies choose the best fit EHR for their organizations. Having honed that process to five important steps that help practices of any size choose the right EHR, he has included it here in the Guide to Choosing an EHR. Partial Table of Contents A Note from the Author Do I Want an EHR? What about EMR? Practice Management System? Overview How to Use the Guide Conceive Assess Evaluate Implement Maintain Success! What Now? Why EHR? Features to Consider Notes and Treatment Plans Client Demographics and Information Scheduling Billing Electronic Insurance Claim Filing (E-Filing) Clearinghouses EHR / Practice Management Software Client Portal Miscellaneous Clinician Groups Data Portability Graphic User Interface (GUI) / User Experience (UX) Mobile Friendly Support Reliability Data Storage Reporting Integration e-Prescribing In the Cloud or On Premises? What is the Cloud? Why use the Cloud/SaaS? When On Premises Software Makes Sense EHR and HIPAA Compliance But My Organization is Not A HIPAA-Covered Entity! Business Associate Agreements and Terms of Service Meaningful Use HIE, Meaningful Use, and Merit-Based Reimbursement Interoperability Health Information Exchanges Tips on Software Trials and Implementation How do I go about evaluating a system during the trial period? How should I transition to using a cloud-based EMR/EHR/Practice Management System (CBPMS)? What about all my old notes and data? Should I back up my data? Resources Read more