To meet the unique requirements of behavioral health practices, athenahealth EMR Software launched the athenaOne platform for mental healthcare earlier this month. This has expanded the umbrella of software solutions offered by athenahealth EHR Software for different medical specialties including urgent care and women’s health.
The specialty-specific Electronic Medical Records Software by athenaOne aims to provide holistic and coordinated care to patients with various behavioral health conditions. Through the robust EMR System, the patient will be at the center of care, and providers will be empowered to deliver safe, high-quality care.
Challenges Faced by Behavioral Health Providers in the USA
Workforces Shortages
The number of mental health workers is still limited to this date and even worse in rural settings. This gap hampers the existing providers hence enlarging their caseloads and increasing burnout. Therefore, providers are unable to cater to the increasing population concerning mental health services.
Insurance and Reimbursement Issues
Most behavioral health services experience inadequate funding and the rates of reimbursement for mental health services are sometimes much lower than for physical health services. There are always barriers to billing insurance agencies making the delivery of care even harder for providers.
Integration with Primary Care
It is also noted that the functional relationship between behavioral health and primary care is not seamless, and is, therefore, disorganized. The absence of meaningful integration between physical and mental health care hinders the attempt of providers to treat the person as a whole to improve outcomes.
Regulatory and Compliance Burden
Behavioral health providers need to understand the laws which include the privacy laws like the HIPAA. Due to constant changes in standards put in place by several state and federal bodies, much effort is utilized to ensure compliance and time that could be used to serve the patients.
Benefits of using athenaOne EMR Software for Behavioral Health
- The athenaOne EHR Software is ONC HIT Certified relieving the compliance burden off providers.
- The inclusion of robust patient engagement tools to maintain stable patient and provider relationships is critical in behavioral health.
- The Electronic Medical Records Software provides configurable workflows and built-in templates to simplify patient treatment plans.
- Reporting tools for therapists.
- The athenaOne EMR Software for behavioral health offers strong interoperability with primary care settings and IOPs. This can help reduce any gaps in care and facilitate care coordination.
- HIPAA-compliant remote therapy sessions to provide consistent care to patients from the comfort of their homes. This is especially beneficial as there is a stigma around receiving mental health.
Moving Ahead
Mental health requires compassion on another level. With the help of athenahealth EMR Software therapists can now build better connections with patients and not be concerned about the administrative burdens.
