Best Mental Health Software

Providing treatment to mental disorders is an extremely challenging job because a unique mental disorder treatment procedure is applied to each patient. It is impossible to monitor, track, and prove the quality of the treatments provided. For example, two patients with schizophrenia may require different treatment and medicines, even if their psychological state is the same. Every patient going through a mental disorder requires customized treatment based on their historical records and current situation. A mental health solution ensures that the treatment provider has complete information about the patient on their fingertips to accurately address their problems.

Compared to other medical practices, mental or behavioral health practices have specialized requirements for implementing software for patient record keeping, treatment scheduling & billing.

This buyer's guide to mental health software can help you understand the concept of the mental health system in detail and evaluate different options to select the one that best suits your unique needs.

Mental health software systems, also known as mental health assessment software, are used by mental health providers to manage their administrative processes and develop, store, manage, and secure patient information. The mental health tool also includes features that allow practitioners to schedule appointments, submit insurance claims, and process reimbursements for their patients. 

At times mental health software is confused with EHR (Electronic Health Record) or EMR (Electronic Medical Record). The job of EMR and EHR is just to manage the patients' information, whereas a mental health system is designed to address the unique needs of mental health clinics and practices. Precisely a well-featured and the best mental health software includes additional functionality compared to EMR and EHR that can encourage and ensure delivery of effective treatments & facilities to the patients. 

So, let's understand how mental health software can help psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, and mental healthcare clinics enhance their services.

As per a research report, the market size for Global behavioral healthcare software and service was valued at USD 2.1 billion in the year 2019 and is likely to grow at a CAGR of 11.1% every year. The reason behind this growth is the significant role played by the mental health system in the improvement of healthcare services.

• Mental health software can upgrade the way patients check-in, pay bills, fill out forms, and complete other procedures. It can simplify the formalities critical for the patients in your mental healthcare center and help them gain better experience and treatment.
• The mental health tool helps you schedule appointments, which helps reduce missed appointments and provide treatment on time.
• The billing system in your mental health solution would automate & speed up your administrative tasks. That ultimately helps the psychiatrists and therapists focus on finding innovative ways to treat critical psychological and behavioral problems.
• The mental health software provides access to complete information about the patients, including their history and current situation. So, even if new psychiatrists or therapists join your mental health center, they can provide accurate treatment with the help of easily accessible information, instead of juggling between different files and spreadsheets.

Mental Healthcare Centers, psychologists, psychiatrists, and therapists can benefit from treatment planning software for mental health. It can help them streamline all the administrative tasks and maintain and access patients' information. 

Many mental health solutions include patient portals that help patients access their information relating to the treatment and medications they are undergoing. It also helps patients in paying for their treatment online and viewing information about their insurance claim reimbursements.

The types of mental health solutions are based on three aspects - functionality, deployment, and price. So, let's go through the detailed information about each one of them -

A. Functionality

The below-mentioned types of mental health tools based on functionality are available as different modules in all-in-one mental health software but are also available as stand-alone systems.

i) Mental Health Practice Management Software

The mental health practice management systems are designed to optimize the operational tasks like scheduling appointments, billing, and insurance claims processing. Many mental health practice solutions can be used by medical practices of any size and niche. There are specialized practice management software specific to mental health containing customized forms and specialized codes, helping to store and evaluate the information based on the patient's behavioral pattern.

ii) Mental Health EHR/EMR Software

EHR (Electronic Health Records) and EMR (Electronic Medical Records) are designed to create, store, and retrieve patient information. It can represent the information in the form of charts, making it easy for the treatment provider to analyze and understand the patients' condition. This type of mental health system also helps in picking the DSM/ICD and CPT codes accurately and minimizes the time required for entering patients' information into the system. Moreover, the patients' information can be easily shared with labs and pharmacies to provide flawless and quick consultations and treatments.

Which One Should You Choose From The Above?

Picking one type from the above mentioned mental health systems depends on your behavioral health practice. If you are planning to use your mental health solution for optimizing your administrative workflow, practice management software would be a better choice. If you need to enhance your record keeping and reporting system, an EHR/EMR system would be the right option. If you require both these systems' functionality, you can go for an all-in-one mental health tool that includes EHR/EMR and practice management features.   

B. Deployment

i) On-Premise Mental Health Software

On-premise mental health software is a system that runs on your server within the organization’s premises. The benefit of on-premise mental health systems is that you get high-end security and facility to customize it as per your business model. Below are the options to be considered when it comes to selecting an on-premise mental health software.

• Purchasing a licensed copy of the mental health software
• Outsourcing the entire mental health software development project to a software development company or freelancers
• Hiring a team of software developers and technicians to develop and maintain your mental health system within your premises
• Downloading an open source mental health software freely available and customizing it as per your business logic

Regardless of which options you choose from the above, deploying on-premises mental health system needs fulfilling specific requirements in terms of infrastructure and technical staff to make it work as per your mental health practice methods.

ii) Cloud-Based Mental Health Software

Cloud-based mental health solution in other terms known as Software as a Service (SaaS) enables you to use the software from multiple locations. The only requirement to access cloud-based software is a computer with the internet. Unlike on-premise software, you don't need to worry about the infrastructure and hiring technical staff to deploy and maintain it. The mental health practice management software providers regularly update the software to ensure you are using its latest version with advanced features. Many cloud-based mental health tools even come with free training for users to quickly get accustomed to the new system.

C. Price

i) Paid Mental Health Software

Following are the costs associated with the paid mental health software -

• Purchasing a licensed copy of a mental health solution requires paying a one-time charge for its license to use.
• Hiring software developers and technical staff to develop and maintain your mental health software requires paying them the salary/remuneration agreed upon.
• Outsourcing the mental health solution development project requires paying the software company or the freelancers their mutually agreed quoted amount.
• Cloud-based mental health tools are available at monthly/yearly/one-time subscription charges that you need to pay online to use the software.

ii) Free Mental Health Software

There are several on-premise and cloud-based free EHR for mental health available for small businesses and NGOs. You can also go through the list of free and open source mental health software to find the best EHR for mental health. If you are in search of a cloud-based free mental software, you can consider Mentegram Notes or other tools like Karify, MyOutcomes Fit, and MHPOffice that offer free trials.

ii) Freemium Mental Health Software

Some mental health practice management software provides free trial versions so that you can use it for a specific time to determine whether it suits your mental practice or not. For example, Therapy Notes offers a free trial period of 30 days. On completion of this software's free trial period,  you need to pay the price based on the monthly-subscription package that suits you if you want to continue using it.

Running a mental health practice is a major responsibility towards the people facing psychological problems. The mental health care software provides the below-mentioned benefits that help you treat your patients in an effective and timely manner.

Tailored for the Niche

Mental health practitioners use a unique set of coding and language in their routine workflow. The mental health system includes an EHR/EMR module specifically designed for recording the details relating to mental well being. Thus, it helps the practitioners speed up their job of recording the patient's history and current situation. It also helps in systematically streamlining that information for easy access whenever required.

Better Prescribing

With the help of mental health practice software, the practitioners have access to the specialized list of medications used for behavioral health issues only. This helps them to simplify and improve the process of prescribing the medications to the patients.

Easy To Share Information

The mental health issue can trigger other health issues in a patient. Many times, the mental health practitioners need to share the patient's information with general physicians, cardiologists the patients are taking treatment from. Mental health software allows mental health practitioners to share that information easily without compromising confidentiality.

Accurate Billing Management

The billing software for mental health professionals can help you record the amount billed to each patient in a systematic manner. Moreover, you can track the payments and even integrate accounting modules for auditing and taxation purposes. If your mental health billing software includes a patient portal, your patients can also track their bills and pay them online, ultimately helping you achieve accuracy in billing management.

If you need to manage your mental healthcare clinic, any medical healthcare software would not be able to suffice your needs. You know that similar to other specialty treatments for heart, kidney, etc., mental health is also a specialty and is treated differently. So, you need a mental health practice software that includes features that specifically help in managing patients with psychological and behavioral disorders. Below-mentioned are some must-have features that you need to look for in your mental health solution.

Supporting Different Treatment Plans

The mental health practice software you choose should support the treatment plans you frequently provide to your patients. It should allow you to -

• Set exclusive treatment objectives and goals for each patient
• Record different methods to apply that can help in achieving treatment goals and objectives
• Set the deadline to achieve those objectives and goals

Monitoring Medication Dependency

Most of the patients with mental disorders are addicted to medications. The mental health software that facilitates monitoring the names and quantity of the medications each patient is intaking. This would help you in controlling the patients' medication dependency and improve the quality of your treatment.

Scheduling Appointments for the Patients

The mental health system should allow you to automate the processes relating to scheduling appointments for the patients. It should send automated emails/notifications to the patients reminding them about their appointment for treatment sessions. Moreover, it should also help you answer or follow up the inquiries on time, helping in generating revenue, and enhancing your mental health practice reputation.

Maintaining Records

The mental health EHR systems can help you store and access the information relating to your patients' history, present condition, medication, and treatment they are undergoing and many more aspects in the form of easy to understand reports. These reports can then be shared with labs, physicians, etc., whenever required. Going through several papers and excel spreadsheets to know the patients' past and present mental conditions can be cumbersome and time-consuming. Instead, mental health EHR systems can help you access important information easily and provide high-quality treatments to your patients.

Managing Billing and Payments

The mental health software should allow you to generate bills and monthly statements for each patient individually and notify you about the payments to be collected from the patients, insurance reimbursements, and everything relating to your mental health practice expenses and income.

Collaborating With Patients

The mental health tool that includes a patient portal would help your patients to submit paperwork, view their lab results, communicate with the therapists and practitioners easily. It should also support your patients to make payments and view their statements so that there is no communication gap. This would help you in maintaining better relationships with your patients, and that would impact the revenue of your mental health practice in a positive way.

Connecting with Patients Remotely

The mental health assessment software that facilitates video conferencing would be an excellent way to connect with your patients and provide them counseling services or therapy treatments online. Especially during pandemics, this feature would be quite useful for the mental treatment providers and patients both.

With so many mental health solutions available in the market, it can seem challenging to select one that is appropriate to your organization's size and working methodologies. This can be made simple by considering the below-mentioned factors while choosing a mental health assessment software.

Compatibility

The process of selecting the mental health assessment software starts from knowing the needs of your mental health practice. You need to check the compatibility of the mental health solution with the way your mental health practice works. The mental health practice dealing with more than 100 clients cannot be managed by the mental health tool to store 10 clients' information. Besides this, there might be many such needs for your mental health clinic, and so requirement gathering becomes the most significant step towards selecting the best EHR for mental health.  

User-Friendly

The mental health system that is user-friendly makes life easier for the practitioners, therapists, psychiatrists, and even the support staff within your mental health practice. A difficult to understand and use mental health assessment software can prove to be worse than manual processes. So, just make sure that the features of mental health software you choose are simple to understand and easy to use.

Automation

Automation is a great way to get the monotonous tasks done with minimal human effort. It can free the time of practitioners in your mental health clinic and focus on the quality of the treatment and health care provided to the patients. For example, if you are using a mental health system, it reminds you and your patients about the appointments scheduled and minimizes the instances of missed appointments, ultimately enhancing the quality of your services.

Scalability

In this rapidly evolving world of mental healthcare, you cannot expect your treatment methods to stagnate. The mental health software you select should be able to cope with the improvements you make in your healthcare treatments. If the mental health system becomes obsolete very soon, it can turn out to be an expensive investment. So, just ensure that you select a scalable mental health solution that can adjust with your changing treatment methodologies.

Security

The patients' information is supposed to be stored in a highly confidential manner when it comes to any medical practice. Especially when you are treating mentally ill patients, you are dealing with a lot of personal information. Being a mental health treatment provider, it becomes your prime responsibility to protect your patients' confidential information. Thus, you need to ensure that you deploy a highly secure mental health software that is password protected and provides role-based access to the users.

Integrations

The mental health software you choose should integrate with the systems like medical billing software, accounting software, scheduling software, etc., as that would help you get all your tasks done from a single interface. The right integrations to your mental health solution can buff up their feature sets and provide you with advanced functionality.

Price

Price would be one of the most critical factors you would want to consider when selecting a mental health software. If your budget is a constraint, you can consider cheap or free billing software for mental health professionals, but that can come with limited features and functionality and prove expensive for you in the long run. Also, choosing a mental health system with the features you are not going to use would not be wise. Thus, you need to select the mental health software with the features compatible with your medical practice needs and, at the same time, fit into your budget.

Similar to many other business facets, technology is continuously evolving in mental health services too. It is tremendously changing the way mental health clinics practice, patients receive treatments, and researchers curate the data. The advancements in technology are driving improvement in mental healthcare businesses. While selecting a mental health system, you need to ensure that it has a futuristic approach considering the latest trends to match the competition in terms of providing the best mental healthcare to your patients.

Artificial Intelligence

AI-Based algorithms in mental health software can help in the early detection of mental disorders in a patient. It helps in diagnosing suicide risks and predict depressive behavior in a patient before time. With the increase in psychological problems worldwide, it has become necessary to check the possibility of mental disorders in the patients coming to medical clinics or hospitals for other treatments. The AI-based mental healthcare applications can predict the possibilities of depressive and self-harm thoughts arising in the future in the minds of the patients, and that helps in saving lives.

Virtual Reality

You must have heard about the use of virtual reality goggles used for video games and entertainment. Now, VR-enabled devices play a major role in providing therapies to patients with any kind of phobia or suffering from schizophrenia. To help the patients to overcome their fears; Virtual Reality (VR) based applications are used to virtually expose the patients to the objects or situations they are scared of the most. This type of mental health treatment is applied to patients who are afraid of heights, elevators, fire, snakes, etc.

Wearables

Wearables like watches and bracelets are being used in great proximity to measuring blood pressure, cholesterol, and similar kinds of problems in the body. These wearables help in detecting the chances of heart strokes in advance, helping to save lives. Identical to that, these wearable devices can send mentally ill patients psychological signals to their psychiatrists and therapists. These wearables, paired with mental healthcare applications, can help you detect the depression and anxiety-related problems in your patient to provide the treatment on time and even save them from harming themselves.

Voice Recognition

Many mental health tools help in detecting psychological issues in people based on their voice. The behavioral analysis in a patient can be done based on the story they have narrated or answered some of your questions. Gone are the days when the psychiatrists and therapists went through a long text-based content to detect the mental problem in a patient. The latest mental health software has voice recognition ability to analyze the voice and speaking pattern of the patient, and based on that; it generates reports that show the patient's current mental condition.

There are many mental health solutions available that can cost you $4.99/month to $45000 one-time charges. The selection of your best EHR for mental health would depend on your features requirement and budget.

For example, there are mental health solutions for small businesses like PsychSurveys available at $4.99/month, BEHCA, and Mimo Progress Note at $5/month. If you want to go for mental health tools with advanced features, you can consider Meditab IMS that is available for $199/month subscription charges. Moreover, there are tools like Theralytics that are reasonably priced at $15/month also include all the advanced features that you may require for your mental health practice.

If you are not comfortable with monthly subscription charges, you can consider solutions like Titanium Schedule available at $1600/year or solutions like BMCASE at only $159 one-time charges. There are other expensive but well-featured mental health software like TheraScribe available at $500 one-time charges and Credible Behavioral Health at $45000 one-time charges that you can consider.

There are also mental health software vendors that charge you based on the features you require like TherapyZen, Stormy Software, and many more. You need to contact the specific vendor to get the software's quote based on the features you require.

If your budget doesn’t permit you to invest in a new system at present, you can consider free and open source mental health software that you can even customize as per the workflow of your mental health practice.

For more options, you can go through this complete list of mental health software.

Investing in the best mental health software would not be enough; if the mental health system that you have purchased has been incorporated inadequately in your treatment processes. So, here we go with a step-by-step process to ensure the successful implementation of mental health solutions within your organization.

Step 1: Inform your Team

Inform and train your team about the new development in the form of a mental health software that you will implement in your organization. If possible, include them in your decision-making process, as that would encourage them to adopt the new system quickly.

Step 2: Acquire Training & Knowledge

Many mental health software vendors provide free training. Ensure that all the users, including you and the implementation team, acquire a complete knowledge about the mental health software, including its updates and maintenance part.

Step 3: Hold Regular Meetings

While transitioning to the new mental health system, there are several problems that you may come across practically. You need to hold meetings with your team and mental health software vendors to sort those issues and gain expertise in using the mental health solution you have selected.

Step 4: Inform Your Patients

Last but the most significant step would be to inform your patients about the new system you have implemented, and there can be certain minor pitfalls till you and your team get accustomed to it. This would help them in understanding your situation and dealing with patience.

To ease your software selection process, we recommend you go through the list of the best mental health software intricately curated by the GoodFirms' team. But, is this list reliable and comprehensive enough worth relying on? Yes, it is, and the below reasons can justify this fact.

• GoodFirms follows an intricate selection process after considering several parameters and displays only those applications that have used the latest technology in their development process.
• Along with an in-depth analysis of each mental health tool's features, GoodFirms also includes authentic customer reviews of mental health software that would help you make the right purchase decision.
• GoodFirms follows the practice of regularly updating the software list categories and customer reviews, and so is popular as one of the most reputable B2B research firms.

The psychological treatment providers are required to work from multiple environments like their private clinic, rehabilitation centers, multi-specialty hospitals, patients' homes, or any outdoor location as per the patients' preferences. Moreover, mental health practice can follow different procedures and workflow to treat the patients. You need to make sure that the mental health solution you select is compatible with the environment you usually choose to work, and your treatment procedure to get the best results. 

We hope this buyers’ guide to mental health software has made it easy for you to make the purchase decision. Still, in case of any query, you can contact our experts for further suggestions and recommendations.