Behavioral healthcare: Essential qualities of great software to help coordinate care
Stringent privacy laws and unique workflows can make care coordination challenging for behavioral health providers.Technology can play a pivotal role in highlighting key information that can be shared across care settings — ultimately, helping to make coordination seamless. When searching for technology solutions to help you coordinate care, look for those that enable interoperability, support holistic medical management, and have advanced electronic health record (EHR) features. Here’s why:
- Interoperability is the exchange of critical health information (like data on drug interactions) to improve clinical decision-making. This information gives healthcare providers a more holistic look into a client’s health history. Interoperability is important because it connects behavioral health providers to general health providers within their community, allowing them to send referrals electronically. It can also help with the collection of medication data.
- Integrated, or holistic, care focuses on treating the whole person. Your solution must have clinical workflows that can support both mental and general care to successfully coordinate and integrate care.
- To truly understand what is happening with a client, behavioral health providers need access to lab data, vital signs, and more. This data should flow into a comprehensive master treatment plan that reflects the entire workflow of the interdisciplinary team to support strong clinical decision-making.
- An EHR is the most important component of coordinating care. It is the hub that enables interoperability and holistic care in your organization.
An EHR is most beneficial when it can:
- Span the life of the person: The EHR should be able to track the client by their medical record number — this helps quickly reconcile data, including noting any significant mental health events from previous stays.
- Alert the user to known deterrents to care within the client record (including access to food, transportation, etc.) to help facilitate positive progress, the return to the client’s previous location, and access and referrals to the support needed.
- Support the client through their entire care experience. The EHR should be compatible with the software solutions used in both outpatient and inpatient programs, making key information available to the right person at the right time.
- Capture and automate every necessary client consent so the clinician can focus on the person in their care, rather than chasing down the signature that will ensure regulatory requirements.
Download our complete tip sheet, Behavioral healthcare: Three essentials of great software to help coordinate care, here.
WellSky Specialty Care for Behavioral Health is a scalable, comprehensive health information platform, purpose-built for inpatient psychiatric hospitals and behavioral health systems. Learn how WellSky can support your facility’s path towards integrated care by requesting a consultation today!