In our practice, we have found several systems that work to streamline our business and save us time. Every minute wasted, is money lost. I have worked with our Directors to create systems for our practice, allowing our clinicians to do what they do best…therapy! I want our clinicians to be able to spend their time doing therapy. Any non-clinical hours, I want being spent with family, friends, etc. Essentially, I’m working to create a system where things run smoothly enough so our clients are taken care of, our clinicians can do what they love to do best, and our Directors can do what they do best in their support roles.
Here are our favorite four systems working best for us right now to help set our clinicians and clients up for success:
IntakeQ For New Clients
We have gone completely electronic for all of our paperwork. IntakeQ provides us an affordable platform to streamline our intake process. I am not a paid spokesperson but wouldn’t mind being one! Once a new client has scheduled an appointment with us, our Director of First Impressions emails the intake paperwork to the client via IntakeQ. Once completed, our Director then uploads the completed paperwork directly into the client’s file in our EMR (more about that later!) The platform has many options you can integrate into your practice websites like credit card processing, appointment reminders, and scheduling. Having the intake paperwork completed online before the client comes in is a mega time saver. The clinician then has time to read the history and nature of the concern of the client before the session letting the intake session focus on the needs of the client and not filling out paperwork.
Electronic Medical Records – Therapy Notes
Everything in our practice is digitized and electronic. This includes our record keeping system. The platform working well for us is Therapy Notes. This electronic medical record (EMR) system is a major time saver. It’s an all-in-one system for billing, notes, and scheduling. It saves time in it helps to streamline our intake process, documentation process, and billing process. Not to mention, no paper! We are a completely paper-free office (yay earth friendly!) Therapy Notes is continually working to update its system to add features to enhance your experience. Recently the most helpful thing for us has been the feature where you can upload a document securely to the patient portal for an electronic signature.
Internal Messaging System- Qliq
Our practice has three locations which afford us many opportunities. However, with that, creates some barriers in regard to communication. Qliq is the internal messaging system we use to save time when it comes to communicating quickly and efficiently. Each staff member has an account, to include our Directors. This helps when clinicians in our offices other than our main office where our Directors are located, have a quick question about a co-pay or a patient’s appointment, they can quickly send a “qliq” message. This avoids lengthy back and forth emails or the hassle of having to make a phone call. Qliq also operates within HIPAA guidelines which is a must. This internal messaging system is not only a big time saver, but it also helps to create community among our team across all three offices.
Onboarding Checklist
Onboarding new clinicians effectively is important in helping set them up for success. We have worked to implement an efficient system to streamline the process and make sure we are all on the same page. We have a shared on-boarding excel file checklist of everything a new clinician needs to complete during the on-boarding process. This includes everything from submitting their professional bio for the website, to filling out their tax forms, to watching the onboarding videos. The new clinician, the Director of Operations, the Director of First Impressions and myself all have access to the shared checklist so as tasks are completed, we can mark “complete” and put the date next to it. This helps to keep us all on track for timely completion of tasks.
We certainly don’t have it all figured out, but these systems have proven to be big timesavers for us as we continue to grow. They allow us to do our jobs efficiently and focus on helping our clients. The best thing is, we are a group that is open to change. If we find a system isn’t working, we look to fix it. All of these systems have come about after a series of trial and errors.
Alycia Burant, MA, LPC, NCC is founder, owner and therapist at Healthy Minds Therapy in bustling Alexandria, VA. Her practice has three locations in Northern Virginia providing expert support and services for people in times of need. When she is not working, she enjoys relaxing with her family, wine tasting, cooking and traveling.
