What Is an EHR System?
Get a free EHR evaluation checklist
Download free resource
Enter your email below to access this resource.
By entering your email address, you are opting-in to receive emails from SimplePractice on its various products, solutions, and/or offerings. Unsubscribe anytime.
When you’re in private practice, there’s a lot to consider. On top of client care, you’re also responsible for billing, scheduling, insurance—it’s a lot of balls to keep in the air.
An EHR system can help you streamline your workflows so you feel more empowered and relaxed in private practice, all while offering clients improved access to care.
So, what is an EHR system exactly?
In this article we’ll walk through what an EHR is, what some advantages and disadvantages of electronic health records are, and what the impact can be in your practice when you choose to use an EHR.
First, what is an EHR system?
EHR stands for electronic health record.
Across industries, it’s a digital version of a client’s chart, giving providers one centralized, online place to take and then keep their client notes and treatment plans. A digital chart is instantly available to clinicians who need quick and easy access, and also makes it easy to share with other authorized providers who may also be treating a particular client.
The features and functionality of most EHR systems go beyond just client notes, though. A private practice EHR allows clinicians to streamline both clinical care and their practice management workflows with features like scheduling and calendars, note templates, and client communication tools.
All of these features allow providers to spend more time on and with their clients, so in turn, clients feel the benefits as well.
What are the advantages of electronic health records?
The advantages of electronic health records can be felt by clients and clinicians alike.
While clients and patients may not fully know the definition of an EHR system or be using the software themselves, they do feel the ripple effects of providers using their time more efficiently.
Now that you have an understanding of what is an EHR system, here are some of the benefits of electronic health records:
1. Improved quality of care
On the clinician side, an EHR system makes it easier to keep track of client notes and treatment plans—and easier to make updates to them as needed through the course of treatment.
When clinicians can easily access their notes, treatment plans, and diagnosis, clients get more accurate treatment.
It also helps clinicians streamline the insurance claim filing process, which helps clients get the care they need and helps clinicians get paid for their work.
2. Increased efficiency
Another advantage of electronic health records is they help practitioners be more efficient, so they can spend more time and energy with their clients—not on administrative work.
EHR softwares help clinicians take care of all the vital behind-the-scenes work of running a private practice in an efficient way. Features like automatic payments, invoice generation, and insurance claim filing all save clinicians money on bookkeeping services, and save them the time of doing all of that billing manually.
EHR systems also help clinicians reduce compliance risks, saving them the time and money they would spend recovering from a potential HIPAA violation or other data breach.
3. Reduced resource consumption
Though EHR software does cost money, it helps reduce how many resources—both physical and fiscal—your practice has to go through. A behavioral health EHR will save space in your office by eliminating the need for dozens of physical client files, and will help save you the labor costs required to keep all those files organized and up-to-date. You’ll also save on paper, printer ink, and the other office supplies that go into keeping paper records.
If you wanted to run a virtual practice using your EHR, you’d also be able to consider giving up your office, saving you on overhead, utilities, rent, and other recurring costs of a private practice.
4. Better client engagement
EHR systems don’t only benefit clinicians—they can benefit clients as well. Clients can feel the impact of their clinicians being less burnt out, overworked, or overwhelmed. When clinicians know their administrative work is being taken care of, they can be more present with their clients, which improves their quality of care as well.
Many mental health EHRs also have a client portal of some kind, which increases client engagement and agency in their treatment process.
A client portal will usually allow clients to read and sign their intake forms, make payments, receive documents and worksheets if necessary, and send their clinician secure messages in between sessions.
All of these features give clients greater insight into their care, which allows them to be more engaged in the process in a safe and secure way.
What are the disadvantages of electronic health records?
Even though there are a lot of advantages of electronic health records, there are some potential disadvantages as well.
When you’re making the decision whether or not to invest in a private practice EHR, it can be helpful to have all the facts.
Here are a few disadvantages of electronic health records:
1. EHR software takes time and money to set up
If you do decide to go with a behavioral health EHR, most of them are pretty robust, and have a lot of features and tools to learn. It can take some time to fully understand every feature your EHR software has to offer and fully maximize their efficiency—and some clinicians may not want to make that time investment, even though EHRs do save you time in the long run.
2. It can take some time to switch to an EHR
If you’ve been running a pen-and-paper practice and decide to make the switch to an EHR, it can take some time to import all your client data to the software. (See if your EHR has a switching program to help you make this process a little easier.)
3. Clients may have privacy concerns
Even though the mental health EHR you choose should be fully HIPAA-compliant (and bonus if it’s HiTRUST certified), some clients may still have some concerns about their privacy using a digital system.
You may have to give clients the definition of an EHR system, and some clients may not fully understand who has access to their data in your EHR, or may have outstanding concerns about how you’ll keep their data safe. There’s language you can use in your intake paperwork to let clients know about your private practice EHR and how you’re committed to protecting their privacy and data.
What’s the impact of an EHR?
Now that you have an understanding of the definition of an EHR system, let’s talk about the impact.
Clients and clinicians both feel the impact of electronic health records. EHR software can help clinicians prevent burnout, which then in turn helps clients have a better experience with their care. Another impact of an EHR is it can help clinicians reduce their safety and compliance risks, which gives everyone peace of mind—and also has real financial and legal benefits.
For clients, the impact of an EHR is a streamlined and improved care experience.
An advantage of electronic health records is they can help clients feel more agency in their care, and help them feel more engaged.
Booking and rescheduling appointments, making payments, looking at documents, and even attending virtual appointments can all happen in the same place, removing a lot of the barriers clients face to getting care.
How to choose a behavioral health EHR
If you’ve weighed the advantages of electronic health records against the disadvantages and have made the decision that it’s right for you, there are a few things to consider to help you choose the right one.
Scheduling
- Can clients request appointments online?
- Can you set recurring appointments?
- Can you set appointment reminders to help reduce no-shows?
- Can you sync your EHR calendar with your Google, Outlook, or iCal?
Client communication
- Can clients fill out their intake forms online?
- Can clients see their billing history and make payments in the client portal?
- Can you and your clients send secure messages?
Mobile app
- Does the EHR have a mobile app?
- Does it give you full access to all your scheduling, billing, and client information?
These are just a few factors to consider when choosing a private practice EHR—but they’re a good starting point for the kinds of things to look out for. SimplePractice is a fully integrated private practice EHR that can help you streamline your administrative workflows, so you can focus more on your clients—not on their paperwork.
How SimplePractice streamlines running your practice
SimplePractice is HIPAA-compliant practice management software with everything you need to run your practice built into the platform—from booking and scheduling to insurance and client billing.
If you’ve been considering switching to an EHR system, SimplePractice empowers you to streamline appointment bookings, reminders, and rescheduling and simplify the billing and coding process—so you get more time for the things that matter most to you.
Try SimplePractice free for 30 days. No credit card required.