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About Susan Litton

Susan C. Litton, Ph.D. holds degrees in both psychology and IT. In addition to being the developer of the PSYBooks EHR & Portal, she's been a practicing clinical psychologist in Decatur, GA, since 1985.

More Than a Three-Room House

Imagine a two-room house whose occupants have outgrown it. They decide to solve the dilemma by tacking another room on the back. Great! The siding doesn't quite match - nor does the roof. Some of the existing old-growth trees had to be felled to make the new room fit, and when you're inside, you have to remember to step down and duck a bit as you enter the new room. But hey! The owners still have that extra room! If they decide to put their home on the market, they can advertise it as having three rooms.

Unfortunately, some EHRs are built like this.

Why Get an Integrated Product?

As a therapist, you can amass your digital tools one at a time or you can invest in a well-integrated bundled product. For example, let's say right now you're mostly looking for a video platform so you can do telehealth. There are companies that ONLY offer subscriptions to video platforms. But is that the best choice?

Depends.

For example, what happens if, after you sign up for your standalone video product, you realize that you also need a way to collect your fees from your telehealth clients. And maybe you need encrypted email so you can contact people in a way that's secure. Or maybe now you need HIPAA-compliant file storage, as your clients begin to send you documents via their new encrypted email. Or perhaps a way to schedule clients online. Or maybe a way to efile and also to send statements and receipts digitally. That's a LOT of tools and we're just getting started!

Do I Have to use HIPAA-Compliant Video? 

Right now is a stressful time as COVID-19, more commonly known as coronavirus, continues to spread. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have both emphasized how now it’s more important than ever for us to maintain “social distancing.” How do we do that and maintain our ethical and legal obligations to our clients – not to mention keeping our income relatively intact?

Doing Telehealth? You Need a Portal.

Think you're not doing telehealth? Think again. Although there's no one-size-fits-all definition that cuts across state and/or discipline lines, most agree that telehealth basically involves any electronic method you use to communicate with or about your clients. This can include common things like phones, email and electronic file storage, in addition to video sessions, which is what we typically think of with the term telehealth.

Business Associate Agreements:
Do We Really Need Them?

I sometimes hear therapists mention specific software programs they’re using in their practices for tasks like notes, calendar/schedulers, online file storage, billing, video sessions or email and then add something like, “They’re HIPAA compliant. They just don’t – you know – have Business Associate Agreements.”

Are We Becoming Outdated?

In the not too distant past, a therapist with some kind of note pad in hand was the norm. It was expected. We were doing our jobs and interested enough in the client to take notes on what they were saying. I was part of that crowd. Although I preferred to write my notes after the client left, I definitely felt that paper notes were the way to go and I burned through many legal pads in the early years of my career.

What Will Happen to Your Clients?

Most of us have documents like a will, power of attorney and other estate planning instruments either already in place or at least on our “I’ll get to that eventually” list. Far fewer have given much thought to how we would want our clients to be taken care of in the case of our demise or anything else that would cause a sudden interruption in our ability to provide services.

Encrypted Email:
Your Role in Keeping it Safe

Some people like to point out that encrypted email isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. “After all,” they warn, “as soon as someone has access to your username and password, it no longer matters whether your email is encrypted or not.” Well . . . yes. That’s an accurate statement. However, to use that line of reasoning would be like telling us not to bother locking our homes or cars. After all, as soon as someone gets access to your keys, those locks become useless.

Encrypted Email – Just How Safe Is It?

PSYBooks’ email not only meets but actually surpasses the HIPAA specifications for encrypted email. HIPAA’s rules for email encryption are broad, giving developers the maximum amount of freedom. This is as it should be. Those who are responsible for writing and maintaining HIPAA/HITECH laws cannot also be expected to keep up with rapid changes in the world of technology the way developers do. Therefore, although HIPAA wisely states that email containing client PHI (Protected Health Information) should be encrypted, it doesn’t specify exactly how that should be done.

Behavioral Health Portal

The portal is the web-based interface between you and your clients. In a sense, it allows your clients (or anyone else you designate) to have their own “mini” version of PSYBooks that contains just their own data – no one else’s. You can view data they enter on your side and interact with the client about their data, all through the portal.