EMR

Understanding HCPCS and CPT Billing Codes for Addiction Treatment Detox : Inpatient, Residential, and Outpatient 

Let’s dive into the most common addiction treatment detox HCPCS and CPT codes, what they mean, and when to use them.

Contingency Management May be Coming to an Addiction Treatment Center Near You

How does contingency management work? Why is it so controversial? What does the future of contingency management look like in the behavioral health field?

When Will it Get Better? Staffing Shortages in Addiction Treatment and How Smart EMR Use Can Help

The healthcare staffing shortage, and the behavioral health staffing shortage in particular, does not appear to be easing up any time soon. 

Is Integration with Primary Care Bad for Behavioral Health and Addiction Treatment Organizations?

Should we fear integrated care or embrace it as the future of addiction treatment?

Top 4 Most Wanted EMR Features for Addiction Treatment in 2024

ChatGPT, AI, Telehealth. in 2024, addiction treatment organizations are increasingly looking to EHR vendors to leverage these developments for improved patient outcomes and more efficient, affordable, accessible care. 

Got Noise? How Noisy Charts are Hurting Your Addiction Treatment Center's Bottom Line

addiction treatment EHR EMR noisy charts clinical notes behavioral health

It’s no secret that addiction treatment clinicians are overwhelmed by the demands of clinical documentation. 

They are “bogged down in paperwork,” even if that “paperwork” is mostly virtual. 

Behavioral health professionals face some of the harshest clinical documentation requirements of any healthcare provider and they are often grappling with EHRs and clinical software that is outdated, ill-suited to the work, or simply non-existent. 

Behavioral health is naturally complex. The addiction treatment community’s emphasis on the biopsychosocial model means that every episode of care generates reams of patient data, SOAP notes, test results, clinical measures, patient reporting, care coordination documentation, and more. 

When poorly managed, patient data collected over the course of a single episode of care can become essentially incomprehensible. In these cases, it’s hard to tell the signal from the noise. 

Charts like these are called “noisy charts.”

What is a noisy chart? 

what is a noisy chart addiction treatment

A “noisy chart” is simply a chart with data that feels chaotic. It’s a chart that has too much “noise” competing for attention with the intended signal. It’s hard to read and hard to interpret. Working with noisy charts is aggravating, frustrating and inefficient.

Think of it like a crowded, noisy room. You’re trying to communicate with another clinician, colleague or insurance payer about an important patient matter but there’s so many other irrelevant noises happening in the background that you give up. Or maybe you keep trying to communicate but as you struggle to understand one another, mistakes are made. 

In addiction treatment, a “noisy chart” is usually comprised of some of the following common ingredients:

  • 943 pages of patient reported information, collected in a valiant attempt to deliver “patient-centered care,” never read

  • 230 random bits of PHI collected “just in case” but never used in any clinical sense 

  • 1,563 “record update notifications” collecting robotically in an inbox

  • Haphazardly entered data that does not allow for apples-to-apples comparison or analysis

Why Do Some Addiction Treatment EHRs or Patient Records Become Noisy? 

addiction treatment ehr emr noisy chart patient records

There are several causes of “noisy charts.” 

Occasionally, a wordy clinician is the cause of bloated, unwieldy charts. This, however, is the exception to the rule - most clinicians are too busy to waste time writing epic notes. 

More often, it’s the software design itself that inadvertently cultivates an ideal environment for “noise.” 

While some clinical noise is inevitable, as you learn more about EHR design and optimization, you’ll find that smart design and smart use goes a long way to cutting through the chatter. 

But first, let’s look at the top three consequences of noisy charts: damaged outcome measurements, staff burnout and attrition, and impaired care coordination.

Noisy Charts Damage Outcome Measurements and Make Value-Based Care Impossible

addiction treatment noisy chart outcomes measurement value based care

Your addiction treatment organization may be collecting patient data, but if it can’t be used to improve patient care, establish medical necessity, or track patient outcomes and treatment success, it’s not going to be very useful. 

As value-based care continues to loom on the horizon for the behavioral health industry, smart addiction treatment executives are choosing EHRs that can handle outcomes measurements. Documenting the “value” that treatment providers payers and patients can be difficult or impossible in a chaotic, “noisy” EHR environment.

Noisy Charts Pour Gasoline on Your Addiction Treatment Organization’s Staffing Crisis 

staffing crisis retention addiction treatment noisy chart

If your addiction treatment organization is having difficulty recruiting and retaining talented clinicians on your team, you’re not alone. Demand continues to skyrocket for behavioral health care in the wake of the pandemic as well as the surge in dangerous new drugs like fentanyl and P2P meth. As treatment becomes more complicated and demanding, clinician burnout also continues to rise. This combination of high patient demand and low treatment availability puts extra pressure on the system, leaving very few qualified professionals to accomplish urgently needed work. 

As with most problems, prevention is the smartest strategy. Instead of focusing on how to replace staff members lost to an ever-increasing rate of clinician attrition, why not focus on how to keep your existing staff in their roles as long as possible? 

If pay raises and other bonuses are off the table, what can you do to provide your clinicians with a more satisfying work experience?  

The secret to fostering a healthy and happy work environment is equipping your teams with the tools they need to get the job done well. One of the main tools that addiction treatment clinicians use day in and day out is their EHR - if they have access to one, that is. 

Just implementing any EHR and hoping for the best is unlikely to result in a happier staff. In fact, invest in the wrong system and watch as clinicians run screaming for the door. 

Yes, the frustration level can be that bad.

Noisy Charts Cripple Addiction Treatment Care Coordination 

addiction treatment behavioral health care coordination harder with noisy charts

When your charts are difficult to digest, interoperability - that easy flow of electronic information - suffers. When clinician communication is restricted, care coordination becomes clunky and disjointed, resulting in shoddy, redundant treatment and mistake-prone patient care.

Sometimes, nothing matters as much as your patient’s latest UA results. Other times, that group counseling note that contains vital information about relapse warning signs is the most important, life-saving update your team will receive all day. 

In a chaotic, noisy chart, these pieces of information don’t surface easily and when they do, it’s at the wrong time or the wrong place or both. The result? Balls get dropped. The “golden thread” or clinical narrative is broken. Need-to-know information isn’t passed on or it’s surrounded by so much irrelevant information that it’s overlooked.

An EHR Designed Especially for Addiction Treatment to Quiet the Noise 

Behave Health is committed to making it easier - and more profitable - to operate evidence-based, results-focused addiction treatment centers.

Our all-in-one app puts clinical, administration, staff, admissions, alumni, residents, treatment plans, billing, insurance authorizations and more - all at your fingertips.

Get your free trial started today and see why more addiction treatment centers prefer Behave Health.

PS. Just getting started with behavioral health? Need help with certification, too? Behave Health can also help direct you to the right resources for help with Licensing or Accreditation by either The Joint Commission or CARF. Mention to your product specialist that you’re interested in this service after you start your free trial!

What is 'Meaningful Use' and ‘Interoperability?’ Why Does it Matter for Addiction Treatment EHR Users?

Let’s define “meaningful use” and “interoperability” and take a look at what these terms mean in a behavioral health context.

AthenaHealth Causes Big Problems for Behavioral Health Group Practices and Outpatient Programs

With all of AthenaHealth’s merits, there are some serious cons to this software for addiction treatment group practice and outpatient program owners.

TheraNest's Failure to Support Addiction & Mental Health Inpatient & Outpatient Facilities

TheraNest consistently receives high ratings for its functionality in solo and small group practice settings, but can it keep pace with the demands of larger group practices and outpatient programs?

SimplePractice: Not an Easy Fit for Group Practice or Outpatient Behavioral Health Providers

Growth minded addiction treatment organizations should understand the limitations of SimplePractice before committing to this EMR.

Therapy Notes is a Bad Fit for Group Practice and Outpatient Programs Looking for a Behavioral Health EMR

Therapy Notes may not be the best choice for your small solo or group practice if you have an eye on expanding in the future.

Hands-Free Clinical Documentation for Mental Health Providers is Here: Dictate Your Notes With Speech to Text!

While speech to text is a highly intuitive and easy-to-use feature, there is an adjustment period or “learning curve” to making the switch from typing clinical documentation to dictating the majority of your clients’ SOAP notes.

Ai and ChatGPT Enabled EHRs are a Game Changer for Addiction Treatment 

As with most things “technology,” the behavioral health community is behind the curve with the adoption of ChatGPT enabled EHRs. 

50% of EHR Text Is Just Copy and Paste? Here’s What That Means for Addiction Treatment Providers and Why it Matters

So-called “boilerplate” notes are an open secret in the addition treatment community. But has copy and paste gone too far?

Therabill Versus Behave Health: Which EMR Software Solution is the Best Fit for Your Addiction Treatment Center?

Learn how Therabill and Behave Health compare and which one is the right EHR for your behavioral health organization.

Why Are Addiction Treatment Centers Less Likely to Use EHRs Than Other Mental Health Facilities? 

Did you know that addiction treatment facilities have one of the lowest penetrations of EHR usage of any healthcare provider type?

Understanding the EMR Needs of Christian Recovery and Rehab Centers

 It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find a software solution that is a good fit for faith-based addiction treatment.

Comparing Bestnotes With Behave Health: Which EMR is Right for Your Addiction Treatment Facility?

Take a look at how Bestnotes and Behave Health compare in terms of behavioral health EHR utility, value and ease of use.

Welligent or Behave Health? A Side-By-Side Comparison of Two Top Behavioral Health EMRs

If you’re shopping for a new EHR (or EMR) for your behavioral health organization, it’s likely that you’ve come across Welligent and Behave Health, two of the top comprehensive software solutions purpose-built for addiction treatment and other behavioral health settings.