Find Your Ideal Behavioral Health EHR Software – Download Free Buyer's Guide

1. BUYER’S GUIDE Your Guide to Selecting a Behavioral Health EHR Software A step-by-step approach to finding the right software for your organization, from getting started to going live.

2. Contents What Is the Purpose of an Electronic Health Record? 3 Preparing to Evaluate Your EHR Options 6 8 Researching EHR Providers 9 Signing the Contract 10 Conclusion

3. Buyer’s Guide EHR www.continuumcloud.com 888.871.1631hello@continuumcloud.com Explore the steps involved in selecting a behavioral health EHR that will meet your organizational needs. clinical documentation. You’ll find features and functionality for scheduling and intake, billing and revenue cycle management, and even patient portals that increase patient engagement. In this guide, we will talk about: • The purpose of an Electronic Health Record Each EHR on the market offers its own unique design and capabilities. The right EHR for your organization should not only provide electronic documentation, but also the systems and functionality you need to streamline workflows and make processes more efficient. When evaluating your options, it’s important to consider what’s most important to you and which options will best suit your organization’s needs. This includes internal workflow improvement initiatives as well as compliance with evolving regulations. • Evaluating your options • Researching providers • How to select a new EHR partner What Is the Purpose of an Electronic Health Record? An electronic health record (EHR) in its simplest form is a digital version of a patient or client’s record. However, today’s EHRs go far beyond simple electronic recordkeeping and 3

4. Buyer’s Guide EHR www.continuumcloud.com 888.871.1631hello@continuumcloud.com In this guide, you can explore what the evaluation process may look like along with helpful tips to help you find the EHR solution that will best suit your goals. This guide is specifically geared toward the unique needs of behavioral health and human services organizations and approaches the evaluation process from that perspective. Identifying Key Decision Makers Selecting an EHR system is a big decision with significant implications for your organization’s staff. Therefore, you’ll want to identify a core group of decision makers who will be responsible for evaluating your options. Your team may include Clinical leaders, Finance and Billing teams, IT, and Operations leaders who will have different priorities and perspectives as you look at solutions. Executive sponsorship and buy-in is a critical factor for success in the adoption of new technology. Once your team is in place, you’re ready to start exploring your options. Please note that this team will not only be crucial in the selection of a new system, but the implementation and rollout of software selected. Key Decision Makers: 4

5. Buyer’s Guide EHR www.continuumcloud.com 888.871.1631hello@continuumcloud.com Outlining Your Workflows to Define Your Priorities Before you start researching EHR providers and scheduling demos, a key step is to assess your current workflows and operations. Whether you’re growing and considering an EHR for the first time, or you have a system in place and are considering a switch, here are some questions to consider: ◊ What’s working well and what isn’t with our current processes? Which areas should we strive to replicate? ◊ What key compliance requirements must be met through security, reporting, or process in a new system? ◊ What specific pain points are you experiencing that you’d like a new solution to address? ◊ Where do we see opportunities for a fresh start? ◊ How do our processes or EHR impact the clinician experience? ◊ Are there opportunities to increase productivity? ◊ How do our processes or EHR impact the client experience? ◊ What roadblocks are anticipated for incorporating clients into a virtual workflow? ◊ What types of issues or errors are occurring that affect our bottom line? ◊ Are there clinical workflows creating obstacles to the billing process? ◊ What types of bottlenecks are we experiencing in our workflows? ◊ Can we solicit opinions regarding challenges from our end users? Taking a step back to clarify your existing processes and making an honest assessment is the first step in identifying your priorities. You’ll want an EHR solution that works with your existing workflows, increases efficiency and speed for internal processes, and creates a better experience for anyone who’s impacted by the system, whether directly or indirectly. 5

6. Buyer’s Guide EHR www.continuumcloud.com 888.871.1631hello@continuumcloud.com Preparing to Evaluate Your EHR Options Once you’ve identified your priorities, you can begin to develop a checklist with your requirements. It may help to organize these by priority, identifying which features are must-haves and which ones are nice-to-haves. Keeping a structured checklist handy during your evaluation will help you keep track of your options so that you can compare functionality between systems more easily. Your checklist will also help you stay focused on your priorities, as it can be easy to get excited about new features you find that start to stray away from your core organizational needs. Here’s a sample checklist you can use to help you get started. Of course, you’ll want to modify your checklist as needed to align with your organization’s priorities. Core Functionality Configurability • Clinical documentation and automated timeliness reminders • Client intake and program enrollment • Comprehensive scheduling options for multiple service settings • Supervisory and QA workflows • HIPAA compliance • Flexible role-based security • Post-visit surveys and self-assessments • Revenue cycle management & billing capabilities • Visual dashboards & reporting • Self-service reporting options and access to data • Patient portal & secure messaging • Telehealth functionality • Mobile functionality to support staff in the field • Workflows that meet your unique needs • Configurable options that allow for tailored workflow by program • Scalability for future organizational growth • Systems that help streamline processes for efficiency • Interoperability with internal/external systems Support • Implementation process is thorough and well-planned • Hands-on training that sets your staff up for success • Recurring sessions, webinars, and knowledge base articles for ongoing training • Prompt and knowledgeable support • Cloud-based system allows for ongoing and real-time system upgrades Additional Considerations • Upfront and ongoing costs • Potential ROI and long-term value • Frequency of ongoing system enhancement • Focus for specific industry verticals and regions 6

7. Buyer’s Guide EHR www.continuumcloud.com 888.871.1631hello@continuumcloud.com Timeframe for Selecting an EHR Partner With multiple stakeholders in play and various EHR solutions to explore, you’ll want to keep in mind that the evaluation and selection process can take several months to complete. If you have a target date in mind for when you’d like to go live with a new EHR option, you’ll want to work backwards to determine how early you need to start planning ahead in getting the evaluation process started. Here’s a sample calendar that starts the process on January 3 and results in a go-live date of September 5. This process may be faster or slower depending on the size and complexity of your organization, how quickly you come to a decision internally, and the duration of your implementation process, but you’ll want to plan ahead. 1 3 Initial Research Exec. Demos 7 Initial Demo 17 15 Needs Analysis Calls Final Decision 21 Pricing Review 4 Begin Implementation 16 Configuration 18 18 Discovery & Data Collection 5 Go Live 11 Testing & Training

8. Buyer’s Guide EHR www.continuumcloud.com 888.871.1631hello@continuumcloud.com Researching EHR Providers With your priorities and checklist established, you’re in a good place to start researching different EHR providers. Behavioral health and human services organizations can start by looking at EHR providers that specialize in their industry. These options will typically provide a more tailored solution in line with your priorities, especially compared with EHRs that are specifically designed to support hospitals and large healthcare networks. You can find out a lot about an EHR provider by simply researching their product online. However, to get a complete picture of the EHR solution and how it can specifically apply to your organization, it will require scheduling demos or soliciting written response to specific needs. As you research your options online, you’ll want to pick around 3-4 companies to evaluate. If your organization has an RFP process, you can invite these vendors to submit a formal proposal to your organization. This should give you a good starting point for comparing top options without overwhelming your selection team with too many choices. Preparing for and Holding Demos Ideally, you’ll want your entire group of key decision makers present for every EHR demo you plan. This gives each stakeholder the ability to hear directly from the EHR provider and allows them to ask targeted questions based on their specific priorities. Each member of your team should have the pre-established checklist in front of them during these meetings so that they can keep their priorities top of mind and jot down any notes as they watch the demo. After each demo, it helps to discuss as a group the perceived strengths and weaknesses you noted from the EHR provider while the information is fresh in everyone’s mind. This may help your team determine any follow- up questions they have, concerns about functionality, or preferences for what they saw. 8

9. Buyer’s Guide EHR www.continuumcloud.com 888.871.1631hello@continuumcloud.com Selecting Your New EHR Partner Once the demos are complete, all follow- up questions have been answered, and each decision maker has had a chance to weigh the options available, it’s time to choose a new EHR partner. You’ll want to weigh your options carefully, taking into account your organizational needs, wants, and nice-to-haves. You’ll also want to weigh the EHR solution itself along with the level of service and support you can expect to meet your ongoing and future needs. Upfront cost, timeframe to go-live, and other considerations may also be important data points as you consider the option that will be best for your organization. Signing the Contract Once you’ve selected your new EHR partner, received board approval, and are ready to move forward, the final step is to sign the contract and make things official. Congratulations! You’ve made it through the EHR buying process and taken the first step toward improving your organization’s workflows and processes. This is when your journey truly begins. Your next step is to get started with an implementation project, planning out the steps involved in transferring data to the new system and getting everyone up to speed on how to leverage the new EHR solution best. 9

10. Buyer’s Guide EHR www.continuumcloud.com 888.871.1631hello@continuumcloud.com Conclusion Taking the time to carefully consider your behavioral health EHR options and choosing the one that best suits your organization’s unique needs will only set you up for success going forward. By planning your selection criteria and evaluation schedule in advance, you’ll be best prepared to stay on top of the EHR buying process to find the option that’s right for you. About Welligent Welligent provides a cloud-based EHR for behavioral health and human services organizations. Featuring scheduling, information collection and referral, assessment and intake, clinical documentation, case management, organizational compliance, billing, and reporting functionality, this solution enables a better way to work and better health outcomes. About ContinuumCloud ContinuumCloud offers a spectrum of cloud-based software solutions intentionally designed to meet the unique needs of the behavioral health and human services industry. These solutions include an EHR platform, powered by Welligent; an HCM system, powered by DATIS e3; and a patient engagement platform, powered by CaredFor. Through these offerings, ContinuumCloud empowers organizations to provide high- quality care and deliver on their mission. 10