Comments on: Behavioral Health EHR: Dream or Reality, Obstacle or Asset

By: carol mcgee

carol mcgee — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:02:30 +0000

Very briefly, I believe Electronic Health Records would reduce errors, increase speed, and increase accessability to records, especially with computer portals. Dr. H. Bonem, you are an excellent psychologist and will not be forgotten.

By: Debbie Pietsch

Debbie Pietsch — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:05:41 +0000

We have just completed our conversion of a step toward EHR. We have converted all of our patient files to PDF files and do not have paper files anymore. We have 21 providers and two offices. We too were taking files back and forth between offices and spending way too much time looking for files. It was a little time consuming at first but are already seeing the time we are saving and easy access to files. We will recoup the money spent in less than a year and from that point will save money in staff, paper etc. We can at some point convert to a full blown EHR. Most therapists and physician are pleased and love the system. There was quite a bit of resistance at first but everyone is seeing with the volume that it was inevitable. It just takes a little adjusting.

By: Paula

Paula — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 17:42:20 +0000

We have been thinking about going electronic especially because we have 3 office locations and we have MD’s actually dragging charts from one office to another via suitcase/bins. My concern is that I want to keep the billing and medical records and scheduling as part of the same programming. For MD’s we need to be able to scan all documents, past records, etc into the patients record, we have tickler and notes that are sometimes put in charts to remind MD’s of issues to discuss with patient and then prescriptions – making sure a copy is saved and being able to print prescriptions. So coordinating and testing projects to make sure these features are available plus knowing the cost to institute it are where we are at. I would love to go fully electronic but its testing it out to make sure a program meets all our needs is the tough part.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 19:55:39 +0000

So it looks like cost, time, and security/confidentiality are the biggest reasons SOS friends have avoided EHRs so far. I wonder how those who use EHRs have dealt with these issues. When I practiced, we developed Case Manager so I could speed up doing treatment plans and progress notes. At that time, there was no thought of sharing the record with anyone else except in the most standard of ways, i.e. printing something out when my client gave permission for that. Greater complication is certainly on the horizon.

By: Carolyn Stimel, Ph.D., ABPP

Carolyn Stimel, Ph.D., ABPP — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 13:13:21 +0000

It has been my experience that most psychologists, unless administering a large practice, have not wanted or needed to deal with EHR yet. Florida is looking at some legislation about it but it is in the very early stages. Other states are a bit further along. What I have heard consistently is that it is very difficult to figure out how to add behavioral health records to an EHR system and maintain confidentiality limits. On one hand, folks see the benefit of having an ER be able to know what diagnoses and medications are if someone arrives unable to give a history. On the other hand, no one wants their psychotherapy info posted on any type of central system. FPA is monitoring as best we can what the legislature might do, but we are still in early days.

Carolyn Stimel, FPA Director of Professional Affairs

By: Whitney Matson

Whitney Matson — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:05:56 +0000

We are using an EMR and I find it very disapointing. We are in residential treatment and offer a wide variety of services psych, therapy, medical, and nutrition. Finding all of this in one package that is affordable and works as advertised is quite difficult. If the right product is out there is is hard to find in the sea of options.

By: David Thompson

David Thompson — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 02:43:00 +0000

I agree with the two previous responses concerning the costs and complexity involved with EHR. I don’t even have time to maintain my practice website the way I’d like to do so, much less single-handedly manage the steps necessary to implement EHR. I’ve often looked wistfully at the SOS CaseManager product, but the same issues apply. I’d have to upgrade to a network and network version of the software (plus additional hardware), and I just can’t afford to do it with my practice overhead and other business challenges. I’ve implemented two networks in my offices, however, and am gradually trying to position myself to make the leap.

By: Bill Wallace

Bill Wallace — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 18:12:14 +0000

I have been using SOS OM for 15 years and find the accounting software excellent. Recently we expanded to a 3 person network version. We have no clerical or support staff on site and very much appreciate the support we receive from SOS. However, switching to network has increased the complexity of our maintaining the operations significantly. Our server crashed in July (our backup was fine) but we have still not regained network function. The problem is that there is simply not enough time, in the midst of delivering clinical services, to do the “computer work” to restore the network, even with the wonderful tech support. Moving to EHR feels like an exponential leap in complexity and computer maintenance/fragility of the system.

By: Howard Bonem

Howard Bonem — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:32:22 +0000

As a manager of a large group, the cost of EHR scares me. Also, I am worried that this will add another level of complexity to my systems management which, until now, I have done myself. Our margins are so thin that any additional expense is difficult to undertake.

By the way, we are also involved in the development of an acute geropsychiatric hospital. I just received a quote for a complete EHR/Billing system configured for a psychiatric setting and allowing up to 10 simulataneous users. The cost would be $76,000! That’s a lot of $690 per day inpatient days.