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June 16, 2020

NATSAP Now Requires Accreditation From Members

NATSAP, an organization of therapeutic centers and programs, has announced that it will be requiring all of its members to be accredited. 

So, what does this mean for you? What is accreditation, and how can you obtain it? We’ve prepared a short guide explaining the change and how you can stay one step ahead of the curve. 

NATSAP’s New Decision

The National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs, or NATSAP, was created in 1999 as a resource available throughout the United States for programs and centers helping young people with behavioral and emotional burdens. 

Currently, NATSAP serves only as a resource and not as an organization that checks for compliance. Therefore, in order to improve the quality of the programs that boast NATSAP membership, the board voted in October to make all members follow accreditation procedures.

Fortunately, your center has three years to obtain accreditation: the deadline is January 1st, 2023. Furthermore, NATSAP has committed to helping organizations gain the accreditation they need. They have samples of policies that satisfy accreditation criteria and mentoring programs to help newer organizations navigate accreditation. Of course, you have to be a member of NATSAP to obtain these resources. 

According to NATSAP, accreditation can be obtained by any of the following groups:

Here at Alleva, we have recommended CARF and the Joint Commission for accreditation purposes. Both are excellent choices for your accreditation needs, but their requirements are somewhat different. Our advice is to learn about both in order to pick the one that works best for you. 

Accreditation & Why It Matters

Why is NATSAP suddenly requiring accreditation? The truth is, this has been in the works for some time. As an organization devoted to therapeutic programs and centers, best practices often require rigorous enforcing of evidence-based procedures. If you’re accredited, it means that your program or center has been deemed satisfactory to provide the treatments you offer. 

For this reason, accreditation often cultivates safety and efficacy. By making all members accredited, NATSAP gains more credibility and authority when it comes to advocating for centers and programs like yours. 

However, you may find yourself wondering: is accreditation worth it?

Accreditation does take some work, but the end result is powerful. Not only does it force you to take a look at how your organization is running, but it puts you in the shoes of your patients. By doing so, you are taking a personal approach to your treatments, and you are getting first-hand experience of what your patients are going through so you can provide the best quality service you are able to offer. 

Promoting your accreditation status also has benefits outside of the treatment you offer. It immediately strengthens confidence in your center and your programs because they have been vetted by trusted organizations, and it also provides a boost in your marketing since you can boast accreditation that another facility may not have. 

Smaller benefits include improving risk management, a reduction in liability insurance, continued support from your accreditation organization, and improved recruitment efforts, since employees always want to work at more respected organizations and accreditation is one way of gaining respect in the industry. 

"Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives."

WILLIAM A. FOSTER

Before applying, our advice is to do as much research as you can on the process and which accreditation body you would prefer to work with. 

Once you have reviewed the requirements for accreditation, analyze your center and programs yourself in order to discover the areas where you may need improvement. Go through the process internally and involve your staff, making sure everyone is aware of the caliber of service you need to offer to obtain accreditation. 

Once you have discovered some potential areas for improvement, make a plan or systematized effort to implement changes, and decide when these need to be completed by. The survey by the accreditation body can take up to one year to be scheduled, so you may have some extra time, but ideally, you would start diagnosing your program as soon as possible. 

One of the benefits of working with an accreditation body is that they provide feedback from a perspective of experience and guidance. They want to help, and you can collaborate with them to designate areas for improvement and implementation suggestions. 

How Alleva Helps With Accreditation

Alleva can help with accreditation in numerous ways. To start, Alleva can help you digitize forms, which leads to less lost paperwork and prepares you for compliance checks. 

By digitizing your practice, you gain our expertise and digital tools that will grow and change with your program in an industry that is constantly evolving. Not to mention—we have extensive experience helping clients through the accreditation process. Everything, including accreditation, is easier when it’s digitized and organized.

 If you want to learn more about Alleva, request a demo today and see what we can do to help.

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February 14, 2019

How to Choose a Behavioral Health EHR: 10 Things You Need to Consider

1. Identify your goals

It is so important to understand your business goals when looking for a behavioral health EHR. What are your overarching goals for your business and where are you going?  Are you trying to cut costs, grow revenue, expand locations, beds, occupancy or census? Are you trying to better retain staff? Do you have clinical goals that require better oversight or more time to accomplish - more efficiency, or better connection with patients? Identifying your goals, whatever they may be, is hypercritical to knowing what you want.  Pain is just as important which is the next step.

2. Identify your need: Why do you need a behavioral health EHR?

 It is critical to understand your motivations for needing a behavioral health EHR.  What is your challenge with your current software? What are general pains with your business?  Are you losing insurance dollars because of audits or record requests with missing documentation?  Are you struggling with licensing or other concerns? Is there a lack of oversight because you are on paper or a weak system with little reporting or business intelligence tools to get what you need? Is there a department that is inefficient?  Are you on a system but certain aspects of your business are still being done on paper?

3. Evaluate your current Process: What's working today that you wouldn't want to lose?

Is there anything your current vendor is doing right that you would be loath to lose? It is important to establish what is working and make sure you are not taking one step forward and two steps backward.

4. Assign priority

Try to list your pains with your current behavioral health EHR in order of biggest to least. Also, list the things you want to keep in order of importance. This will help you identify the best fitting EHR by how much value it will give you.

5. The Net

Your mental health EHR search needs to be done thoroughly.  Make sure you gather a minimum of two EHR providers to go through. Having three or four would be ideal.  Do an initial demo with each, keeping the demos to 30 minutes or less to narrow down to your top one or two.  

6. Due diligence: Getting References on the Behavioral Health EHR Provider

Make sure you speak to references.  This is an important step many people miss when selecting a behavioral health EHR.  Whether they blindly sign up with a company or whether they discount that company because another competing company discouraged them from continuing to talk with them, make sure you do your due diligence and speak with people that are actually using the software every single day. You should also check their reviews on sites like Capterra and G2Crowd. Look at how many reviews they have and if the majority are good or bad.

7. The Behavioral Health EHR Demo

 Make sure you have in mind some key areas you are looking to improve and have those outlined before the demo to help the presenter know what to focus on.  Your time is precious and it should be focused on the things that will bring you maximum value and enable you to maximize your results with your new software.  This will also help your behavioral health software provider to know the important things they need to be working on and where their customers are looking for help.

8. Your Current Contract

Some contracts have notice clauses that require one to give a certain amount of notice before you may cancel.  This is important to know when thinking about your timeline to transition. Timing your notice with your implementation is key so that you are not paying for two systems longer than you need to.  If your clause is 60 days or less, there isn’t much to worry about. Your new provider can advise you on when the best time will be to give notice. If it is longer than 60 days, you may want to consider giving notice even before you select a new partner.

9. A Good Fit

The partner you choose needs to be a good fit technically, but what about culturally?  Some partners might be more online-tutorial based, some may be support-center based, and others may be account management based.  It’s important to identify what is important to you and what is included. Also, where is the company headed? Most software today is cloud-based and delivered as a service (SAAS). What does their roadmap look like for the next year? How often do they do releases into their product? How are those communicated? How many engineers do they have on their team? Are they full time or part time contractors? Are they based in the US or overseas? This is important to know based on your past experience and deciding on the right fit for your business.

10. Cost vs. Value: What's the value of each option?

 Listing the choices in order, regardless of price, is a great way to help yourself determine what you really want.  Next, you'll want to assign a price to each option. If the price of the first one is worth the value it brings, then your decision was just made for you.  If there is a discrepancy, then you need to think a little harder. One suggestion that is worth trying is calling that number one option and telling them they are the number one option but that their price seems to still be a barrier.  Maybe they can be flexible. Sometimes they can and other times they can’t. It will depend on the situation. If option one cannot make it work, repeating these steps for option two and so forth will help you get the best possible solution for your needs and budget.

Choose a Behavioral Health EHR that best fits your needs

When you're looking for a behavioral health EHR, you should first identify your goals and needs. It doesn't matter how great a mental health EHR software is if it doesn't do what you need it to. Once you've established this, look at your current process and find an EHR that keeps what's currently working for you.

Next, assign priority to the pains and items you want to keep in order of importance. Then make a list of potential EHR vendors and get references on them. The best way to conduct an EHR search is to make it thorough. Then, get a demo! Most, if not all, EHR vendors provide a free demo. If they don't, you probably shouldn't consider that vendor. You can schedule a no-hassel demo with us here.

Check your current contract to ensure it doesn't have any clauses preventing you from leaving without sufficient notice. If you're able to leave your current contract, don't do so until you know the new vendor is a good fit technically and culturally. If it is going to save you time and give you peace of mind, it will be worth the switch.

June 1, 2017

How to Talk to Children About Addiction

Parents talk to children about drug addiction

Addiction is a struggle that not only affects the person involved but also his or her family and close friends.  It is not a solitary struggle and so it is important to be open with those affected by addiction, including children.

While it is for parents to decide when and how to explain their own addiction or that of a close relative to their children, there is some information that should be included in that conversation.  A recent article in the Chicago Tribune outlined some key points when it comes to speaking with your children about addiction:

  1. The child is not at fault.  Young people often blame themselves for things outside of their control and may internalize addiction and see themselves as the cause.  Let them know that they are doing everything they are supposed to be doing.
  2. Explain that addiction is a disease and talk about like you explain diabetes or cancer to a child.  Explain that there is a treatment.
  3. Encourage children to speak up.  It’s ok to express feelings of anger, sadness, or confusion.  Let them know who they can talk to like a school social worker, grandparent, or other “safe adult.”
  4. Help them to never start using substances as they will be at a higher risk or addiction.
  5. Children should know that they can ask for help.  If they ever find themselves in a situation where drugs are presented to them or they feel themselves slipping towards addiction, they can ask for help and do not have to overcome it alone.
  6. Teach self-care.  Encourage healthy eating and exercise.  Leading a healthy lifestyle will help them to avoid addiction and be happier.
  7. Children are loved.  Through the struggles, it can be difficult for children to feel loved when addiction can change the disposition, attitudes, and behaviors of their loved one.  Let them know that they will always be loved.

Children may be deeply affected by addiction but they can be involved in recovery without being in the dark.

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Copyright 2019 - Alleva Corp. All Rights Reserved.

Copyright 2019 - Alleva Corp. All Rights Reserved.

Copyright 2019 - Alleva Corp. All Rights Reserved.