Custom Mental Health EHR Software: A Practical Overview

A Brief Overview of EHR Software for Mental Health Orgs

Electronic health records software (EHR) enables mental health providers to securely store and manage patient records, track mental disorder management progress, bill patients, control mental health specialists' schedules, and plan care. Custom mental health EHRs meet all the unique needs of healthcare organizations: provide tailored treatment planning capabilities, in-app telehealth sessions, advanced convenience features, and more.

Solution composition: medical staff interface, admin interface, a patient record storage, a terminology service, a clinical decision support system, a data analytics module, an e-prescribing module.

Recommended integrations: RCM, HIE, CRM, a patient portal or a telehealth application for mental health.

Architecture and Integrations of the Mental Health EHR System

Architecture and Integrations of the Mental Health EHR - ScienceSoft

For mental health practices and behavioral health care providers, ScienceSoft designs EHR software with the following architecture elements:

Mental health professionals’ interface to view medical history of a patient, update patient records, add visit summaries and check visit history, prescribe medications, plan therapy, schedule appointments, etc.
Admin interface to enable clinical supervisors and IT admins to manage access rights of medical staff, add new patients, view mental health specialists’ appointment schedules, track staff workload, etc.
Data storage to collect and store medical history of a mental health provider’s patients, their appointment history, visit summaries, treatment plans, recommendations generated by the clinical decision support system, billing data, etc.
Terminology service to store mental health condition codes and classifications (e.g., according to ICD-10, SNOMED CT), information on medications, treatment protocols, etc.
Data analytics module to analyze the workload of mental health specialists, time spent per patient, patient outcomes, reimbursement data, etc., as well as generate reports and recommendations on improvements.

Optional modules of mental health EHR

To fully cover the needs of mental health organizations, ScienceSoft is ready to develop the following custom modules or integrate stand-alone healthcare solutions like:

Clinical decision support system (CDSS) to process health records, treatment plans, prescribed medications, and generate recommendations on patient treatment for mental health specialists, as well as to notify on potential allergies, drug interactions, side effects for a patient, etc.
E-prescribing module to generate electronic prescriptions and securely transmit them to selected pharmacies or a patient application.


	ScienceSoft’s tip: If you plan to develop a custom CDSS module, it may require FDA registration (for US) or in other relevant agencies (for other countries).

Valuable integrations

To improve clinical and business workflows within a mental health organization, ScienceSoft suggests integrating EHR with the following healthcare software:

Revenue cycle management (RCM) software to streamline scheduling of appointments with psychologists, psychotherapists, etc., simplify patient billing for the received mental health care services, and facilitate a behavioral health organization’s accounting.
Practice management software to plan schedules of mental health specialists, generate operational reports, process payments based on the EHR data, etc.
Customer relationship management software (CRM) to schedule appointments in EHR, send appointment notifications to the patients, etc. Based on info like treatment plans supplied from EHR and customer conversation history, CRM can, e.g., generate special offers to help improve engagement.
Health information exchange (HIE) software to share and get patient information from other healthcare providers (e.g., diagnostic laboratories, primary care practices) in a secure and compliant way.
Patient portal or telehealth app for mental health care to enable appointment scheduling, easy access to personal mental health records for patients, mental health recommendations, treatment plans, etc.

Key Features of Mental Health EHR Software

To cater to the specific needs of each mental health provider, ScienceSoft designs the functionality set of EHR software based on the in-depth analysis of business needs. Below, we present the common features requested by mental health care providers we work with:

Patient records management

New patient chart creation.
Patient medical record creation and editing (logging of data like a diagnosed mental health disorder, chronic diseases, lab test results, medication history, etc.).
Logging an appointment with a mental health specialist and appointment details (e.g., psychotherapy progress, visit summary).

Patient treatment planning

Treatment plan creation (e.g., psychotherapy sessions, support group, medications intake scheme, residential care).
Treatment and medications suggestions generated by a CDSS based on patient data analysis.
Adding physician referrals.
E-prescribing of medications like antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, antipsychotic medications.
Scheduling of a one-time or recurring appointment with a mental health specialist.
Placement of patient care orders for nurses (e.g., conduct patient risk assessment, provide medications to inpatients according to the treatment plan).

Convenience features

Voice assistance for mental health specialists to log patient data fast.
AI chatbot for physicians and nurses
Handwriting and image recognition of therapists’ notes for records creation automation.
Knowledge base for information on mental health disorders, medications intake schemes, drug interactions, mental disorder treatment protocols, etc.
Check lists for mental health professionals to help assess and diagnose a patient.
Notifications to patients on upcoming appointments with mental health specialists via SMS, e-mail, patient application.

Analytics of mental health organization’s data

Operational analytics (total number of appointments, average daily visits, schedules and workload of the mental health specialists, etc.).
Billing analytics (billing process duration, submitted and processed claims percentage, payer share distribution, coding distribution, etc.).
Financial analytics (e.g., for financial fraud detection, financial risk management).

Patient billing and claim management

Insurance verification for mental health organization’s patients.
Insurance claim status check.
Notifications on received insurance claim remittance.
In-line suggestions of billing codes for mental health disorders.
Generation of explanations of benefits (EOB) for the patients of a mental health organization.
Patient billing.

Data security and compliance

End-to-end PHI encryption.
Multi-factor authentication for EHR users (therapists, nurses, mental health organization’s admins, etc.).
Role-based access management.
Compliance with HIPAA, OCR, MACRA regulations, SAMHSA, CEHRT, and FDA requirements, SAFER guidelines, and other applicable regulations.
Segmentation of information related to substance use disorder according to 42 CFR Part 2.
Patient consent management.

Need Secure EHR Software for Your Mental Health Org?

Well-versed in healthcare software development, ScienceSoft’s team can design and develop a custom EHR system that will help you securely store patient health information, get insights on treatment process efficiency, and manage the billing process.

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Factors Defining Success of EHR Software for Mental Health

Here are the two main factors that influence the solution’s success among medical staff:

	Smooth integration with other IT systems of a mental health organization (CRM, practice management software, etc.) to ensure consistent patient and operational data flow using healthcare information exchange standards like HL7, FHIR, XDS/XDS-I.
	Cross-platform compatibility and optimization for mobile devices to allow mental health specialists to access the EHR system via smartphones, tablets, or laptops and update patient information on the go and without disruptions.

How to Develop EHR for Mental Health

1. Analyzing the needs of a target mental health organization(s): private practices, clinics, rehab centers.

2. Defining the EHR concept, features, patient data anonymization and access requirements (e.g., for segmentation of substance use disorder information).

3. Designing architecture, tech stack, and integrations (e.g., with telehealth apps for mental health, CRM).

4. Developing a regulatory compliance plan (e.g., for HIPAA, GDPR, MOHAP, PCI DSS, SAMHSA, FDA) .

5. Designing UX and UI of the EHR.

6. Iterative development and testing of the app.

7. Conducting pre-launch activities, e.g., HIPAA/GDPR audit, ONC-Authorized Testing Laboratory (ONC-ATL) submission, FDA/MDR certification if the app features SaMD functionality (e.g., antidepressant dosage calculation).

8. Training the clinicians and launching the EHR.

9. Resolving user tickets, supporting, maintaining, and improving the EHR.

When to Choose Custom Mental Health EHR

ScienceSoft’s medical IT experts recommend mental health organizations to opt for a custom EHR or EMR system if they need to:


	Tailor the functionality to the mental health organization’s specifics and workflows (e.g., create custom recovery programs, templates for patient treatment plans). Implement top-notch data security measures like blockchain for mental health records storage and exchange to ensure integrity of the sensitive data. Create a comprehensive EHR platform covering other functional modules like telemedicine applications, RCM, practice management. With a universal and cost-efficient EHR platform, medical staff will not waste time on multiple logins, manual data transfer, etc. and will focus on providing the best mental health care services to the patients.

Implementation of EHR and EMR Software for Mental Health Orgs by ScienceSoft

An accomplished IT company with 100+ successful projects for the healthcare industry, ScienceSoft designs and delivers fail-proof EHR and EMR systems for optimized mental health records management and mental disorders treatment.

Mental health EHR consulting

What we do:

Analyze your business requirements and workflows to design features for the mental health EHR software.
Plan high-level EHR software architecture and the tech stack.
Create a business case (featuring investments, ROI, etc.).
Guide to EHR compliance with relevant regulations.

Go for consulting

Mental health EHR software development

What we do:

Elicit and analyze your requirements.
Design architecture and integrations of a mental health EHR.
Design UX and UI.
Develop an MVP with core features and deliver subsequent functionality in 2–4 week iterations.
Test EHR with a focus on data security and compliance.
Provide EHR support and maintenance.

Go for development

ScienceSoft as a trustworthy medical software partner

During our cooperation, ScienceSoft proved to have vast expertise in Healthcare and Life Science industries related to development of desktop software connected to laboratory equipment, mobile application and a data analytics platform. They bring top quality talents and deep knowledge of IT technologies and approaches in accordance with ISO 13485 and IEC 62304 standards.

Sergey Shleev, Prof. Dr. Department of Biomedical Science, Malmö University

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About ScienceSoft

In software development since 1989 and in medical IT since 2005, ScienceSoft is a US-headquartered international IT consulting and software development company. ScienceSoft has experience in delivering software according to HIPAA, HITECH, ONC, MACRA, MIPS, CEHRT, SAFER regulations and is ready to plan and implement a reliable EHR or EMR software tailored to the needs of a mental health care providers.

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