Choose an EHR System for Therapists That Will Transform Your Private Practice

What if I told you there was a way to make your life easier? 

No matter how much you love your job, there’s probably a few tasks that could feel a bit tedious. If you’re still doing all of your charts on paper, pulling files, and putting them away one after the next, alphabetically – we’re here to tell you there’s a better way. 

EHR systems are an integral part of our future as we move towards more digital and potentially secure, encrypted methods of record storage. These software platforms can also significantly streamline how you run your practice and even help minimize potential clinical errors.

If you’re afraid you’re not tech savvy enough to use an EHR system for therapists, they’ve come a long way with user-friendly interfaces even your great-great-grandmother could figure out. The actual hardest part is picking one for yourself.

Let’s go over some of the factors you should consider when choosing the best EHR system for your practice.

What Does EHR Mean?

Let’s go over some of the basics. 

EHR stands for Electronic Health Record. An EHR system is an all-encompassing software or platform that helps keep track of your patients’ health information. These systems are widely used by small clinics with just one staff member up to large hospitals and medical facilities. 

An EHR system for therapists is a program that helps you keep your client’s data, from their basic information, to full medical history, and treatment progress, organized and securely stored. 

How Will My Practice Benefit From The Best EHR System for Therapists?

You could compare an EHR system to an old-school filing cabinet filled with folders and records, except that it's digitized and comes with nifty features. It not only saves precious space in your office, these features can provide major assistance in streamlining your workflow operations. 

They can be so beneficial to a practice that 78% of physicians reported using EHR systems positively affected patient care. If that figure alone doesn’t convince you of the importance of using EHR, here are a few more reasons to use a system: 

• Convenient access to patient notes or charts: Most EHRs are designed with convenience in mind. Long gone are the days of records getting lost, misfiled, and stuck together. The intuitive interfaces now make it easy to pull up any patient’s records in a matter of seconds.
• Faster delivery of patient information: These systems make it faster, easier, and provide more security when communicating with other practitioners, and even the clients as well. You can easily send a potentially large chart instantly and skip the fax machine altogether.
• Easier note-taking: Many EHR platforms have medical speech-to-text tools that make taking notes faster and easier. You can also create therapy progress notes and insert them directly into the client’s records.
• Better awareness of potential drug interactions: If you’re a Psychiatrist and prescribe medications, most EHR softwares have a safety feature built in that alerts you of any potential dangerous drug interactions. This could be incredibly helpful if you have patients that take prescriptions from multiple physicians, or take a lot of supplements.
• Save time and money: As people often say, time is money. Automating systems can save a lot of time and this frees up space for you to go home early, or even see more clients.

Guide to Choosing the Best EHR System for Therapists

We’ve gone over just a few of the benefits of having an EHR system in your therapy practice, but keep in mind that not all of these softwares are made equally. 

So, how do you know you’re choosing the right one, and whether it's worth the cost? 

Here are some factors to consider when you’re choosing an EHR platform.

Decide Where To Host Your Data

Because this is after all, a piece of technology, there are some logistical matters to consider. One of these decisions is picking where you want to host or store your data. There are three types of data storage that are commonly used, and choosing one can narrow your choices down significantly. This is a factor that will affect not only security, but your budget as well.  

Here are the three most common data hosting options:

• Physician-hosted system: In short, you set up your own central file storage platform or server, ensure its security, and host all patient EHRs there. Note that this can be a huge (and expensive) undertaking for a small private practice.
• Dedicated hosted system: In this case, all your patient data is hosted or saved on your vendor’s dedicated, physical servers. A third-party will be handling your data back-up and security. Depending on the distance from the server site, you may have a bit of system lag.
• Cloud-based system: Instead of hosting the data on physical servers, it’s stored on the internet via a cloud or internet-based computing platform, and you have the capability of logging-in from any device. This also means a third-party will be managing your data.

What To Look for In EHR Systems for Therapy: Identify Your Goals

What do you want your EHR to get done for you? Are you looking for a better way to keep files, or do you want one that can do insurance billing for you too? 

The best system is going to be the one that answers to the specific needs of your practice. If you’re feeling overwhelmed with all the different features each EHR System offers, you can ask yourself similar questions to determine what your priorities are in choosing a software. It can be helpful to take a look at the limitations or inefficiencies you’re currently experiencing. 

Consider Your Practice Staff When Choosing EHR Systems for Therapists

You might be working solo right now, but have plans to expand and get some administrative help, or even bring on another therapist. You should consider their job duties and needs when picking an EHR system as well. 

For administrative staff you could consider the ease of checking clients in/out, taking payments, and booking appointments. If you added another clinician to your staff, the ability to create their own log-in and manage their personal work schedule would be things to think about. 

If you’ve got other mental health practitioners on your staff, they may be also eligible for incentives. For example, psychiatrists can receive federal health information technology (HIT) incentive payments if they use an EHR. 

Match the EHR System to Your Practice Size

No matter how great an EHR system is, they might be better suited for larger practices and hospital systems. If you’re operating a small practice, you’ll have to consider that some of them might not be the best fit. 

Since you’ll be investing money into this, it’s a good idea to check whether the platform is suitable for the size of your practice. A system can have a ton of features and seem to be of great quality, but they might not all be ones that you’d even utilize, and the greater cost wouldn’t necessarily be justified in these cases. 

Check for Compatibility and Integration with Other Therapist Software

Have you already started using an Office Management Software (OMS), or picked one that you’ve decided to use in the future? 

If you have, this is a good place to start when looking for a good EHR platform. The great news is that a lot of tech companies have created systems to be able to integrate together. Your OMS provider can give you a list of EHR programs that it is compatible with so you can seamlessly continue with your work. If you decide to go this route, you wouldn’t have to overhaul your existing workflow, but just combine them. 

Other systems you could look into for software compatibility could be for billing and taking payments. If you’ve already got some things working and in place and don’t want to change it all, this is a way to have everything co-existing harmoniously. 

If you haven’t set any systems up, its not a problem as you could look into an EHR system that has the capabilities of an OMS and other tools like booking appointments and invoicing all in one. 

Ensure HIPAA Compliance

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is probably the most important when it comes to choosing an EHR software. Almost all systems will be HIPAA compliant because every healthcare provider needs to be compliant with this law, but you’ll want to double check just to make sure. 

Keep in mind that if you’ll be entering your therapy progress notes into your EHR system, HIPAA requires additional data protection in place to protect that information. You’ll want a platform that not only meets HIPAA’s compliance standards but also other federal standards.

You should familiarize yourself with HIPAA’s security rules, minimum standards, and other requirements to ensure you’re keeping patient’s data and your practices records secure. 

Read the Fine Print

Before you sign a contract with any EHR vendor, you should do your due diligence and read the fine print. If you pay close attention to the little details of the contract, you can find things included that were never even thought about.

Here are a few things to pay attention to in contracts:

• Patient information or data ownership
• Plan for potential contract termination
• Plans for potential vendor insolvency
• Access to medical records after the contract ends
• Employee training for EHR use
• System updates
• Contingency plans or support in case of system issues

Compare and Contrast Several EHR Systems for Therapists

If you’ve short listed a few promising EHR systems, you can take the time to compare them and see which one suits you best. Even if you’ve already reviewed each system’s functionalities, tools, services, and costs, etc. it can help to lay them all out visually. 

Luckily, the APA has a useful EHR tool comparison table available for use, but if you have your own criteria that differs, you can easily make your own spreadsheet. 

Most information should be easily found on the EHR System’s website, but if you have questions, you can contact them to ask for specific details. Many sites even offer free-trials, or demo sessions through a virtual meeting so you can try them out first. 

Ask Around and Get References

If you want real opinions from others that have used certain softwares, where better than from your community? 

One important thing many private practice therapists might not consider when choosing an EHR system is getting references — if you’re one of those people that reads reviews for every item you purchase, why should it be any different for an EHR? 

You can even look up online reviews of the EHR system to see what people are saying about it. While the company might have really great reviews on their website, getting feedback from other practices, physicians or peers might give you a better picture. 

If the vendor is able to provide you with a list of references that would be willing to talk to you about their system, you can set up a short phone call, or email/chat with some of their current clients.

Pro tip: Have your questions prepared in case someone accepts your request for a short interview.

Grow Your Network and Your Practice with the Best EHR System for Therapists

If you aren’t able to get a list of references from the vendor, you’ll have to do the legwork and ask around yourself. Luckily, we have a network of therapists in our community that are more than happy to discuss EHR systems and what works for their practices. 

At Clarity Cooperative, you’ll find not only peers going through the same things as you, but also those that can provide wisdom to help guide you forward in your private practice journey. You’ll be able to comb through our many resources, including our guide to choosing an EHR system, and practice toolbox.

Try out all of our features with a risk-free 30 day trial to our Pro subscription, and come say hello in our community forum.