News

Concurrent Documentation:  The Time is Now

The continued adoption of electronic health records, meaningful use requirements, and recent CPT code changes all present new opportunities to implement Concurrent Documentation.  Many organizations have experienced challenges implementing this new service delivery and documentation paradigm.

In this live webinar you will learn about the strategies and tools used by Echo customer, Mental Health Centers of Central Illinois, to adopt concurrent documentation and improve services, regulatory compliance, and staff job satisfaction.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand strategies to implement Concurrent Documentation
• Understand how Concurrent Documentation can save staff time and increase satisfaction
• See how agency funds can be saved via Concurrent Documentation
• Understand how this can help support Person Centered Care by involving the client in the documentation

CEU Information:

*Attendees of this live webinar are eligible to receive 1.0 NAADAC CEUs*

About the Presenter:

Jim Wilkerson is the Director of Quality Management and Outcome Evaluation at Mental Health Centers of Central Illinois, a private, not-for-profit provider of Behavioral Health services, serving some 10,000 individuals from multiple locations in six counties that includes the cities of Springfield, Lincoln, and Jacksonville, IL.

PASADENA, CA – After an extensive and comprehensive search process, The Gooden Center has selected The Echo Group’s Electronic Health Record and Billing software.  The Gooden Center will be taking advantage of Echo’s eCloud offering in order to focus on their core business and avoid creating an IT structure internally.

The Gooden Center has four (4) locations in the Greater Los Angeles area.  The mission of The Gooden Center is to show men and their families the way out of the debilitating and deadly cycle of alcoholism and drug addiction. Affordable treatment, evidence – based practices and a 12 Step orientation help bring about the transformational change necessary to restore a sense of well being and hope for a productive and promising future.

“We are very pleased that The Gooden Center has decided to take advantage for Echo’s patient-centric product suite. We are appreciative of the extensive selection process and the due diligence performed by Gooden, prior to selecting Echo as its software partner. There is a strong commitment from Gooden and Echo staff to ensure a seamless and successful implementation”, said Fasi Siddiqui, President of the California Division of The Echo Group.

“It was a real pleasure working with Bud Williams, Executive Director of The Gooden Center and his management team through the selection and contractual process”, he added.

“At the inception of our EHR procurement process, we compiled a list of features that our staff wanted to see in an electronic health record system. We then assigned points to each feature that resulted in a scoring grid. Our program and administrative staff extensively vetted several EHR products including several demos from leading behavioral health software providers.” said, Mr. Williams.

“After tallying the scores for all the products, we were pleasantly surprised that Echo received the highest scores in almost all categories.  It was not solely a monetary decision. An important factor in the selection process was working with Fasi Siddiqui, President Echo Group of California. He created an environment of partnership and trust. He also instilled a high level of confidence in us with a mutual interest in a successful implementation project”, Mr. Williams added. “As we have started the implementation process, our confidence has been reiterated by a terrific product as well as a skilled Echo team” noted Mr. Williams.

ABOUT THE ECHO GROUP – Since 1980, The Echo Group has been developing enterprise software applications that have been used nationwide to address the needs of Behavioral Health organizations.  Echo offers a suite of Windows-based and Web-based applications for Administrative, Clinical EHR and Billing functions.   They also offer a suite of services, including Transaction Management Billing Services and Fiscal and Clinical Process Workflow Analysis.  The company is headquartered in Conway, New Hampshire, and also has offices in Powell, Ohio and Oakland, California.

For more information contact Paul Kirsch, Director of Marketing at paul.kirsch@echoman.com or visit www.echoman.com.

Clay Behavioral Heath Center, (CBHC) based in Middleburg, FL will be “going live” with an electronic health record on November 5th. CBHC selected The Echo Group, from Conway New Hampshire to provide their Electronic Health Record (EHR) and billing software. The nearly 5000 Clay County residents served annually by CBHC should not see any interruption in services as the system is implemented, although there will be an adjustment period for staff. CBHC has been providing mental health and substance abuse services to Clay County for 30 years. They provide a wide range of outpatient services to adults, children and families.  While behavioral health has traditionally been viewed as a soft science, the reality is that many of the services provided today are evidence based with research to back up their effectiveness. According to Karen Peyton, VP of Clinical Services “Funders today are looking for outcomes and returns on investments.  They want to see people making progress and getting better.  Providing therapy today is much more than addressing challenges in an office setting, many of our counselors are in homes, in schools and in the community. Making this move to an electronic record will allow us to track progress and to have reliable data available to our funders and our community stakeholders.”

“We began our search for an electronic record almost two years ago, and we had a long list of requirements.  We needed to make sure the one we selected would not only meet our needs now, but also into the future. As resources have become so critical, we must focus our efforts on providing services in the most efficient way.” said Tina Swathwood, VP of Business Operations for CBHC.

CBHC has had a team of staff working on the transition to an electronic record since November 2011. As with many nonprofit agencies, the IT budget was limited and it was a conscious decision on the part of the Board and the senior management staff to obtain the necessary funding to successfully transition to an electronic health record.  An EHR allows healthcare providers to record patient information electronically instead of using paper records. However, EHRs are often capable of doing much more than just recording information. The Florida State Medicaid Agency has implemented an EHR incentive program which allows for eligible providers to receive incentive payments over a 6 year period as they demonstrate meaningful use of their chosen EHR.  The Incentive Program asks providers to use their systems capabilities to achieve benchmarks that can lead to improved patient care.  CBHC applied and qualified for the program which will be used to offset the cost.  As health care providers transition to electronic records, information will be more accessible to providers and to clients served.  Privacy and security are of the utmost importance and information is protected according to the applicable Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act standards.

Irene Toto, CEO of CBHC stated “Our team sat through many webinars and presentations for this specialized software, and ultimately we were most impressed with the Echo team and their product.   We believe this transition will allow us to serve Clay County more efficiently. In the end we all win, our staff spends more time counseling, our client’s information is protected and accessible, and our community partners get data that validates our effectiveness.”

“Clay Behavioral Health Center Management staff commented that they were surprised how quickly clinical staff learned the Visual Health Record and the strong positive reaction to the software.  The Echo Group is thrilled to be working with CBHC to make an impact in their organizations with intuitive clinical software tools.” remarked Joe Viger, VP of Business Development for The Echo Group.

ABOUT THE ECHO GROUP – Since 1980, The Echo Group has been developing enterprise software applications that have been used nationwide to address the needs of Behavioral Health organizations.  Echo offers a suite of Windows-based and Web-based applications for Administrative, Fully Certified Clinical EHR and Billing functions.   They also offer a suite of services, including Transaction Management Billing Services and Fiscal and Clinical Process Workflow Analysis.