Now that your behavioral health practice is starting to really take off and you are seeing more patients than ever before, you and your staff need to manage your organization’s growing pains. One of the first things medical organizations tend to do when their patient volume substantially increases is to check on software solutions. This is where behavioral health electronic health record software comes in.

A National Institutes of Health (NIH) study conducted several years ago revealed convenience was the most common reason patients change primary doctors. More than half of the 1423 patients responding to the survey (53%) were willing to find a new general practitioner that was closer to their residence or easier to visit. The same study revealed that recommendations from trusted peers and family members (36%) and positive expectations of service (37%) also ranked high among the stated reasons that a patient was willing to leave one doctor for another.

Revenue cycle management (RCM) must evolve for health care organizations to not only remain solvent, but to thrive in the current environment. The best path to managing the evolution, or more precisely, where to start the journey, depends on which industry expert you believe. However, there is a common thread whether you are listening to a marketing expert, a customer service coach or a financial advisor – process optimization is business-critical.

Twitter just celebrated a birthday. Nine years after its launch in 2006, it is hard to ignore the influence this social media pioneer has on most industries, including healthcare. Twitter boasts over 300 million active users and millions of tweets a day. A small handful of these tweeters is what marketing gurus call influencers. In other words, people follow them to see the latest trends and get the news that matters. Consider 10 powerful Twitter influencers in the healthcare market.

Like all other people of science, physicians are accustomed to dealing with cold, hard facts. They cannot provide the best care possible to patients if they don’t understand the numbers behind the treatments, such as success rates of one procedure over another or how long it typically takes for a patient to progress from one stage of illness to becoming completely healed. Statistics also shed light on local demographics of patients as well as the business conditions under which physicians do their work. With that in mind, here are 10 statistics that every physician needs to know.

The more streamlined the financial processes are at your medical practice, the more time and attention your team can spend on diagnosing and healing patients. A financially strong medical organization does a better job at retaining talented employees, as they won’t have the same level of anxiety as they would if they worked at a facility that is not doing so well. Patients can tell the difference too, between thriving practices and those that could use some help in managing their revenue cycle. This is where revenue cycle management software comes in. It helps you gain better control over claims and billing and will let you generate customized reports so you can stay on top of crucial data.

As the owner or executive in charge of a medical organization, you know all too well how easy it is to procrastinate when it comes to training staff to use a new protocol or to become familiar with new software. It seems like there will never be an ideal opportunity to disrupt your schedule to set aside time for each member of the team to learn a new way of doing things. This is especially important when it comes to dealing with the upcoming mandated change from the International Classification of Diseases code version 9 to ICD-10. After multiple delays and offering a few extensions to give medical organizations more time to get ready for the transition, the U.S. government has now settled on a deadline of October 1, 2015 to make the change.

Are your patients generally happy to see you, notwithstanding those who are in pain or have anxiety about whatever is bringing them in to see you that day? Successful medical practices can be identified in part by whether they take the time to pay attention to their patients’ wants and needs and whether they will go out of their way to provide the best possible patient experience. With that in mind, here are five things your patients love to see. If they don’t match up with what you’re currently offering at your practice, you might want to make some adjustments and improve patient morale accordingly.

In a busy medical office, staffers don’t have time to waste when it comes to the billing cycle. The faster you can submit claims, the shorter the turnaround time should be, of course. Organizations with an eye on their bottom line require medical billing software companies that will fully meet their particular needs, especially in terms of speed, accuracy and ease of use for their staffers. If you are displeased with your current medical software company or are starting up a new practice and need to quickly select and implement billing software, you should know that not all medical billing software companies are created equal.

As you join the growing ranks of medical organizations that have made the leap from using an old-fashioned, paper-based solution to a modern electronic medical records application, it’s important to learn as much as you can about the software. Becoming more familiar with the various features in your EMR will help you boost productivity and lower the stress levels of your staff. Here are five ways to take advantage of EMR software.