Why Behavioral Health Providers Need a Patient-focused Technology Solution
In your healthcare facility, you work hard to run a smooth business that puts patients first. It’s important that you have the support you need to make your day-to-day operations as simple as possible, allowing your providers and support staff to maximize their time to work on tasks that directly support positive patient outcomes.
Here, we’ll explore the intricacies of the type of care provided by behavioral health facilities, the unique challenges faced by behavioral healthcare facilities, and how Sunwave Health can support you and your employees throughout all stages of the patient and treatment journey.
What is behavioral health?
Behavioral health is one of the more complex segments within the healthcare industry because it encompasses so many aspects of healthcare. Mental health falls under the umbrella of behavioral healthcare, as do many other types of care. Behavioral healthcare providers address patients’ emotional, mental, and physical health, offering a range of services based condition, co-morbidities, and treatment protocols. As research in behavioral health changes, services offered by behavioral health facilities must change as well, with providers working to stay on top of the latest data to provide patients with research-backed care.
Behavioral healthcare providers may work with a specific population of patients (such as patients with autism) or may provide a broad range of services (such as interventions for children with various behavioral diagnoses). Regardless of the population they serve, it’s important that behavioral health facilities manage patient relationships, maintain accurate electronic records and create a revenue cycle management process that ensures prompt payment.
Here, we’ll explore the intricacies of the type of care provided by behavioral health facilities, the unique challenges faced by behavioral healthcare facilities, and how Sunwave Health can support you and your employees throughout all stages of the patient and treatment journey.
What services do behavioral health centers provide?
There are many different services provided by behavioral healthcare facilities. Drug and alcohol behavioral facilities may provide detox—a medically supervised process safely removes drugs and alcohol from the body—while also providing the mental health support necessary for patients to begin the recovery process. Other drug and alcohol behavioral facilities may focus strictly on the rehab process, working with patients who have already gone through detox to help them begin the process of living a life without drugs and alcohol.
Other behavioral healthcare facilities focus on the intersection of mental and physical health, helping people who are living with mental health diagnoses get the medication and therapy that they need to live a healthy life. Behavioral health facilities may be general or may focus on a specific psychological or psychiatric need. Some facilities offer outpatient care, while others offer inpatient programming. Some offer intensive outpatient or partial hospitalization programming, a hybrid of inpatient and outpatient care that allows patients to get the help that they need in the time they have available.
What are some of the biggest challenges faced by behavioral health facilities?
Both healthcare providers and support staff in behavioral health facilities are constantly working to provide patients with the best care possible, and it’s important that they have the tools they need to fully focus on patient care.
Customer relationship management is a key factor for successful behavioral healthcare. Many people who experience behavioral health issues require ongoing care, and it’s important that behavioral healthcare facilities maintain accurate records, follow up with patients and keep tabs on program alumni following the completion of their behavioral health program.
Many behavioral health facilities are overwhelmed by high demand and need to maximize their resources to focus on patient care, rather than dedicating valuable time and energy to office procedures that could be easily streamlined
Behavioral Health Facility Software: Simplifying Processes
Using the right behavioral health software can make it easier for healthcare professionals and administrative staff to manage relationships with customers, work with insurance companies, work through the revenue cycle management process, engage in telehealth appointments, engage with patients both during and after their treatment, and keep in touch with alumni to follow up on their ongoing health.
Sunwave Health provides behavioral healthcare facilities with all the tools necessary to run efficient and effective behavioral health programs, all while supporting positive patient outcomes.
Customer Relationship Management
It’s key to manage relationships with patients and their families, and it can feel impossible to figure out how to stay on top of each patient’s needs without a software system designed to specifically support behavioral health.
Our CRM software doesn’t just allow your employees to stay on top of each patient’s needs–it also allows you to track referral sources, helping you to better understand how your patients are learning about your facility. Our software also allows you to tie in revenue cycle management with CRM, helping you to understand the performance metrics that matter most to the business side of your facility.
Electronic Medical Records
When your staff admits a new patient to your facility, it’s key that you keep track of the patient’s information in a simple, streamlined way. Many behavioral healthcare facilities struggle with record duplication, which can result in mistakes in patient care and duplicated work. Our software works to easily transfer CRM information to electronic medical records, creating a private and streamlined system to ensure that your staff members have all the information they need to provide excellent patient care.
You know that compliance is key, and our EMR software allows your staff to communicate with each other safely, privately and effectively. Patient histories, medication records and insurance information are all stored in a worry-free system.
Telehealth and Patient Engagement
In a post-COVID world, telehealth is key. Sunwave behavioral health software isn’t just about CRM and EMR–we also work to give your behavioral health providers the systems they need to provide top-notch telehealth services to patients.
Many behavioral health facilities struggle to find a way to offer telehealth services while maintaining HIPAA compliance, and at Sunwave, we’ve got you covered. Our convenient telehealth systems are compliant and mobile-friendly, making it simple for both your providers and your patients to connect in a secure, convenient way.
Our telehealth systems offer providers the opportunity to conduct both individual appointments and group therapy sessions and make it easy for patients to fill out forms and documents related to their care.
Revenue Cycle Management
When you run a behavioral healthcare facility, you need to know what’s working financially–and what’s not. Our revenue cycle management module provides valuable insight into your billing processes and can help you understand which campaigns and referral partners are bringing in the most revenue.
Sunwave’s revenue cycle management behavioral health software makes it easy for your staff to input information and view reports no matter where they are. From a PC to a Mac to a cell phone, the latest updates on your facility’s financial standing are always just a touch away.
When your staff members submit claims to patient insurance companies, it’s important that you have a clean, simple process. Our RCM behavioral health software lets you complete the billing process in-house, making it easier for your staff to submit clean claims the first time, streamlining the RCM process. We automatically generate claims and apply more than 150 validation rules, increasing the likelihood that your claim will be accepted by an insurance company the first time. Your staff members are able to adjust these rules as insurance companies change, making it simple to stay on top of billing needs.
Alumni Management
In behavioral health, it’s important to stay in touch with both current and past patients to understand how they’re progressing in their recovery. Our alumni management software takes the guesswork out of reaching out to past patients and can help providers identify patients who may be in need of additional services to help them continue in their recovery.
Life changes, stressors come and go, and your program alumni may find themselves facing new issues. With alumni management software, your staff members will be able to offer continuous alumni outreach, helping former patients re-engage with treatment before a problem gets out of control.
Simplifying Behavioral Health Processes
At Sunwave, we’re focused on providing you with the best behavioral health software available today. We know that running a behavioral healthcare facility requires keeping an eye on endless moving pieces, and our software works to help you and your team focus on what matters most while monitoring revenue cycle management to ensure that you have the financial standing you need to continue providing the best patient care possible.
If you’re ready to take your facility’s behavioral health software to the next level, reach out to Sunwave today to learn more.
