susanlitton

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.

Are Web-Based EHRs Safe?

The most common reason people give for being reluctant to switch to a web-based EHR is safety. When we’re charged with protecting something – in this case, our clients’ records – most of us intuitively feel safer with something we can see and touch; something physical within our own office where we can maintain control of security ourselves. However, despite this subjective sense of safety, Hurricane Katrina taught us all a valuable lesson about the danger of keeping client records on paper. Floods, tornadoes, fires and other types of disasters can destroy paper records in a heartbeat. If you do maintain paper records, at the very least, you should have backup copies of everything – and those copies should be stored at a completely different location – preferably far away from where your paper records are stored.

Why Not Use a Free EHR?

There are a handful of free EHRs and who doesn’t like free? However, before you jump in with both feet, you may want to know some facts. First I don’t personally know of any behavioral health EHRs for private practice that are free. So if you want to use a free EHR, you’re probably going to have to be OK with a medical product that’s been designed for agency use. The cost factor of these types of EHRs has been eliminated, but there are still some reasons you may not want to use them.

HIPAA/HITECH

There are no HIPAA compliant products or services, because by definition, only HIPAA covered entities (e.g., you) and business associates (e.g., PSYBooks) can be compliant. In other words, it’s not a product or service that’s compliant, it’s how you, as a covered entity, or we, as a business associate, write and implement our policies and procedures to utilize those products.

Your Personal File Storage

In addition to being able to store files for each client, you can also upload and store your own digital records in an area set aside just for you. It’s important to note that files are maintained separately. Client files are stored in their charts – separate from all other clients and also separate from your personal files. This is one of the ways PSYBooks adheres to HIPAA/HITECH guidelines.

File Storage for Each Client

Each of your charts in PSYBooks has a Files tab where you can upload files specifically to that client’s chart. For example, initially you might want to upload scanned copies of their intake forms, insurance cards and/or driver’s license. Later on, you may want to upload copies of releases and consents, EOBs, reports or testing results. If you want, you can also keep copies of routine things you generate such as statements, insurance claims or receipts. Should your client request a PHI report, you can also upload that to their chart so you’ll have a record of what you gave them. There are several advantage to storing these kinds of documents in PSYBooks:

User Accounts

User Accounts can be established for anyone you need to grant access to some or all of your PSYBooks records. For example, you might want to create User Accounts for billing personnel, scheduling personnel, supervisees or a colleague who is covering for you. You can allow the user to access the records of all of your clients or just certain ones.