Treating behavioral health is a specialty unlike any other medical condition. Electronic healthcare record (EHR) solutions should reflect the unique nuances of patient care. Below are five key features every mental health practitioner should look for when evaluating EHR options.

The following excerpt is from an article by Meeri Kim. It originally appeared on Modern Healthcare. In 2001 the Institute of Medicine reported on the need to close the gaping “quality chasm” in U.S. healthcare. The report stressed the importance of delivering patient-centered care.

It’s quite clear that small typographical errors can result in major consequences. A simple transposition of numbers in a patient’s birth date or a mistake in the name of a disease or medication are examples of mistakes we want to eliminate in medical practices. Attention to detail and being diligent about catching mistakes must be balanced with meeting the data entry objectives that you’ve established for your staff (such as completing a certain number of records per hour). You want to guard your revenue stream, but not to the point where things slow down to a crawl.

Recent headlines demonstrate some patients will experience yet another change in healthcare coverage in 2017. Aetna plans to sharply reduce their participation in the healthcare exchanges (dropping coverage in 75% of the states they cover now), leaving them only offering policies in four states when the new year rolls around. They are joining other major carriers like United Healthcare and Humana who say operating in some states creates onerous financial burdens they aren't willing to face going forward.

As winter approaches, savvy owners and managers of medical practices are already looking ahead to 2017 with an eye toward seeing what regulations, financial incentives, and other factors will affect their bottom line.

The following is an excerpt from an article originally published on Medical Practice Insider. It was written by Madelyn Kearns. There is a recognized difference between saviors and savers — one being a rescuer of people, while the other salvages bank accounts. But leave it to accountable care organizations to throw distinctions to the wayside. According to Software Advice's recent ACO survival guide, the ACO model not only operates on delivering high quality care to patients — it also aims to provide the utmost in cost-efficiency to participating providers. It’s not the model for everyone, though, and there are numerous requirements and investments a practice must appease for the arrangement to be beneficial.

In order to capitalize on patient engagement, medical organizations must understand the term, and how proactive patients directly and indirectly impact the revenue stream. Vincent Dumez, Faculty of Medicine - Université de Montréal describes robust engagement policies as not just developing a patient-centric healthcare model, but welcoming patients into the care-team, giving them an integral role in their own medical care.

Medicine in the United States has evolved over the past two hundred years from a combination of care delivered by self-taught, country doctors, wives, and mothers using herbs and home remedies and a few formally trained “bone-setters/surgeons” into a complex, computer-assisted network of highly-skilled specialists connected via smartphones and integrated healthcare management technology. As our nation strives to design affordable, value-based care models, the electronic health record (EHR) becomes increasingly more important – for patients and providers. The patient portal is a critical component in every EHR that doesn't always receive the attention it deserves.

The following is an excerpt from an article originally published on EHR Intelligence. It was written by Sara Heath. Through care coordination, population health management, and patient engagement, EHRs help enable successful accountable care organizations. EHRs are an invaluable tool for accountable care organizations, offering a system upon which providers can store and reference important patient information and then easily disseminate that information to other care team members.

The information that is routinely collected and stored in medical practices presents a tempting target to malicious computer criminals bent on stealing patients’ identities. Hackers also keep banging against computer networks as they attempt to install malware to cause chaos and confusion, extort organizations for money, and even gain bragging rights within their community by taking over systems and websites.