Last Updated | September 29, 2022
Executive Summary – Best EHR for Therapists
Looking for the best EHR for Therapists? Read out this detailed blog to know why therapists need to integrate the right EHR system to improve their practice’s efficiency and patients’ healthcare quality.
Introduction – Best EHR for Therapists
Electronic Health Records (EHR) are specifically designed to assist healthcare practitioners in streamlining their workflow processes, save time on administrative tasks by automating them and improve patients’ healthcare quality with various integrated features like IoT healthcare solutions and more. Now, even with so many benefits to start with, implementing EHR and moving away from paper-based records may be challenging for many practitioners. Some of the impediments to EHR implementation include the prohibitively high cost of implementation and lack of technical resources.
Nonetheless, with the ever-increasing compliance requirements and growing competition amongst healthcare institutions, it’s imperative for practitioners and clinics to look out for the best possible EHR solution for their practice.
Here in this blog, we will exclusively be discussing why therapists need EHR, what makes the best EHR for therapists and how to choose the best EHR for therapists that is the right fit for their practices. So, without wasting any time, let’s get started…
5 things every therapist should know about EHR
- Make sure it’s meant for the practice
The widespread popularity and versatility of EHR mean various Healthcare software development vendors are available on the market for practitioners. However, not all systems are made equal, and to choose the best EMR for therapists, you should conduct EHR Systems Comparison to ensure that the system has the features and functionalities required for your practice. This way, you will be able to make the right decision and achieve high ROI with improved patient healthcare quality. You should also check if the system is compatible and offers easy medical device integration with your existing systems.
- How do you plan to use it?
Before choosing the best EHR for therapists, ensure you understand your practice’s current and future needs. As a therapist, you will most likely require an EHR that offers medical records, billing, scheduling, and a patient portal. However, wouldn’t it be better to have a system that offers insurance approvals, credit card processing, electronic claims, and appointment reminders?
- How to try out the EHR features?
When it comes to EHR implementation, it’s a significant monetary and resource investment for even the biggest healthcare institutions. This means that before you adopt a certain system, ensure you completely understand the system’s offerings (not just by reading through the list of features but by actually trialing the system).
Thereby, check out EHR systems that offer free trials before final purchasing. This way, you will be able to closely utilize all the features and functionalities of the system and assess if it aligns with your practice needs.
Also, before you finally decide to purchase a system, try to avoid long-term contracts. Always choose contracts that give you the flexibility to switch (if you aren’t satisfied with the system). Also, always make sure to choose a system that complies with HIPAA and other healthcare regulations.
- How does the system support you?
Whether you go ahead with onsite EHR implementation of a cloud-based EHR system, you will most likely need system support to ensure smooth practice operations (more so for onsite systems). To assess the level of system support, you can try calling the company support during the free trial to record your experience with the company. Make sure the system offers multiple support channels, including call, email, and chat support. Also, evaluate if the support team is able to diagnose and respond to your queries rightly.
- Is the company trustworthy?
In the quest for the best EHR for therapists, you should also assess the trustworthiness and integrity of the company you decide to partner with. Remember, as a healthcare practitioner; you are responsible for keeping the sanctity and privacy of your patient’s medical record. By integrating an EHR, you put your trust in the company to comply with all state and federal regulations for healthcare records privacy. Any breach of privacy may result in punitive costs for the EHR vendor and your practice.
The Benefits of Best EHR for Therapists
Well, now that we are done looking at some of the crucial aspects to consider by therapists before implementing EHR. Let’s move on and see some of the worth-mentioning benefits of EHR implementation for therapists.
- Patient care:
EHR systems for therapists enable them to devise a more personalized and flexible healthcare plan for patients. In modern EHR systems, patients have a dedicated portal, which enables them to access all of their data and medical records, bringing greater transparency to healthcare services. The patients’ portal also enables patients’ to interact remotely with their doctors and physicians, improving their healthcare experience.
As for the therapist, the EHR system offers them efficient and 24/7 access to patients’ medical records while also allowing them to safely share and collaborate with other practitioners to improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients.
- Patient Portal:
The patient portal has become an essential function for most industry standard EHR. These portals are designed to act as a safe communication platform between patients and practitioners, fostering a more meaningful and interactive relationship.
The patient Portal enables patients to directly interact with their therapists for any query or concern without having to book an appointment or play phone tag with administrative staff. Similarly, the portal lets patients access complete medical records, including prescriptions, reports, and other important records, almost instantaneously.
- Documentation:
Documentation and record maintenance is one of the therapists’ most time-consuming and redundant tasks. As practitioners, therapists are responsible for compiling detailed clinical notes after each session with a patient, whereas the details and accuracy of these clinical notes directly influence the success of the practice.
Today, most industry standard EHR for massage therapists comes with automated tools to streamline clinical documentation. Automated speech transcribing and other features enable therapists to record their sessions and come up with consistent, concise, and clear clinical notes for the practice.
- Medical billing:
Medical billing is yet another highly valuable feature offered by some of the best EHR for speech therapists. The billing process, including dealing with insurance companies, is often too complex and lengthy to deter the efficacy of medical practice (especially when you count in the rejections and denials).
With an online medical billing function, EHR systems enable therapists to automate the generation and submission of claims with a single click. Also, the automated billing function in EHR significantly reduces the errors in online claims compared to handwritten claims.
Why do therapists need an EHR?
Consulting clinical notes from peers is an important part of medical practice for therapists that helps in better and accurate diagnosis and treatment of patients. Unfortunately, the authenticity and precision of handwritten clinical notes are often missing, which can be detrimental to the practice. Interestingly, inherent human limitation towards data processing is one of the most common reasons for these errors in clinical notes. Also, given the vast amount of data generated each day, it’s only human for therapists to make errors in clinical notes. Also, since many therapists rely on peer notes to make treatment decisions, any unforeseen errors can cause significant harm to the patient’s well-being.
With automated EHR systems, it’s now possible for therapists to keep accurate clinical notes for patients and get access to reliable information they need to make critical diagnoses and treatment decisions. Some of the worth-mentioning advantages of the best EHR for therapists include:
- Efficient and effective recording of patients’ data
- Higher data accuracy
- Reliable and consistent intra-department communication
- Enhanced workflow processes
- Encourage patient self-management
How to choose the right EHR for your therapy practice?
Well, now that we understand the significance of EHR for therapists, let’s move on to the important steps involved in choosing the right EHR for therapy practice. Below are some of the crucial features you should always check out to ensure the efficacy of an EHR system:
- HIPAA-compliance:
The medical industry is one of the most strictly regulated sectors that demand stringent compliance. HIPAA compliance is one of the most comprehensive and crucial healthcare industry regulations dealing with patient data privacy. Thereby, whenever you are choosing an EHR system for your therapy practice, make sure the system comes with robust security features and is compliant with HIPAA regulations.
- Storage:
EHR systems offer multiple storage options, including onsite and cloud storage. Both options come with their benefits and limitations. Ideally, we prefer using a cloud storage model that allows remote access to data 24/7. However, make sure you know your options and choose the most suitable model for your practice.
- Client access:
Patient accessibility is by far one of the most significant advantages of EHR systems. Thereby, make sure the system you choose offers reliable and consistent access to patients with desired authentication level. Also, make sure the authenticated patients are able to access their data and medical records within the system and not have to access third-party applications for accessibility.
- Integration:
One of the key considerations while choosing any EHR system for your practice involves checking the system’s compatibility with existing tools and systems. This is crucial since going with an incompatible system will ultimately cost you dearly in terms of updating existing systems and tools. Alternatively, you may hire medical app developers to integrate your existing systems with the EHR platform. Many professional medical app development agencies offer pre-built integration tools like AllScripts EHR integration, Cerner HL7 integration, Salesforce health cloud EHR integration, and more.
However, since you will already be paying high-cost for EHR implementation, make sure the system is compatible with existing tools so you don’t have to spend additional capital on integration.
How Folio3’s EHR can help therapists streamline their workflow
Folio3 is a leading medical app development company, offering bespoke and customized medical solutions to healthcare institutes of all sizes. Our state-of-the-art EHR integration services assist therapists, and other practitioners choose and customizing EHR solutions per their unique practice needs. Our expert developers collaborate closely with practitioners to understand their needs and recommend the best solutions that maximize ROIs for them. With hundreds of successful EHR integration jobs, we got the resources, expertise, and experience to ensure a smooth and high-value EHR integration service for therapists and other healthcare practitioners.
FAQs: Best EHR for Therapists
Top 5 ways that EHR can help therapists in their practice?
EHR integration can help therapists in their practice by offering efficient and effective patient data storage, improving data accuracy, ensuring reliable and consistent intra-department communication, improving the efficiency of workflow processes, and encouraging patients’ self-management.
How Folio3’s EHR can help therapists streamline their workflow?
As a leading EHR Integration and medical imaging software company, Folio3’s custom medical solutions assist therapists in designing bespoke solutions as per their unique practice requirements.
How many types of EHR systems are there?
Electronic Health Records (EHR) have become indispensable for healthcare professionals to streamline their practice, increase efficiency and improve patient care. However, the availability of various types of EHR systems may be confusing for healthcare practitioners. If you, too, are wondering about how many types of EHR systems are there, let us broadly categorize them for you. EHR systems can be broadly classified into three categories, in-premise (physician-hosted) systems, remotely-hosted systems, and cloud-based systems. Each type comes with its unique pros and limitations and you should check out the best system that works for you.
What is the impact of EHR in Nursing practice?
EHR in nursing practice enhances the patients’ healthcare quality, increases efficiency, and improves patient safety. The positive impact of EHR in nursing practice also ensures that clinical documentation is prepared accurately and represents precise data of nursing assessments, clinical states, and care plans.
About the Author
