Psychiatry EMR & Billing Software

Leading clinical psychiatry software systems offer multi-user charting templates for evaluation, SOAP notes, progress notes and automated coding to ensure highest possible E/M codes. Additionally, psychiatric electronic medical records (also known as psychiatric electronic health records) often integrate e-prescribing, online scheduling, clinical documentation, prescription and lab writing, clinical reporting, and other clinical and administrative tools for psychiatrists.

When selecting a psychiatry electronic medical record (EMR) / electronic health record (EHR), providers should consider other features necessary to improve efficiency and care at their clinic. For example, some EMRs allow you to create and store custom, reusable notes in a database for quick retrieval during a patient encounter. Others will need administrative features like a calendar application or patient scheduling for clinical appointments.

Here are some of the factors to consider:

Psychiatry workflow management	Your EMR should mimic the way you, as a behavioral health specialist, operate. From first patient contact to initial consult, treatment, and billing, make sure your software facilitates the point of care and supports, rather than interferes, with your opportunities for direct patient interaction.
Advanced note management	Psychiatrists need to be able to access their old notes quickly, to remind them of previous sessions. A psychiatry EMR should link progress notes directly to the treatment plan and allow for rapid note retrieval.
Psychiatry & behavioral health templates	Specialty psychiatric SOAP notes templates include anxiety, depression, delirium, mania, psychosis, eating disorders, addiction, bipolar OCD, schizophrenia, suicide, etc.
GAF Charts	Ensure you can rate the social, occupational, and psychological functioning of a patient through Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF). Monitor the degree of severity of psychosocial factors with a graphical depiction of ongoing progress.
Psychiatric ICD-9 billing & coding	Psychiatrists have their own unique terminology, required for both internal use and for external billing. A strong psychiatry software solution will provide detailed support for mental health billing, without the clutter of additional codes you don’t need.

The size of the practice, existing technology, connectivity, and patient demographics may also play an important part in the decision-making process.

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