An electronic health records (EHR) system can do more than house patient records—an EHR designed for CBT, DBT, and other types of behavioral health therapies can help meet the specific needs of your practice.

Choosing an EHR built for behavioral health can be especially helpful for evidence-based talk therapies requiring frequent appointments. In this article, we’ll explore how EHRs designed for cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) can benefit practices and patients.

Understanding EHRs in Behavioral Health

An EHR built for behavioral health can help you with treatment planning, progress monitoring, outcome measures, telehealth, billing, and more. Behavioral health typically requires more recurring appointments than other fields. In addition, you may need to manage and synthesize qualitative data such as detailed notes, specialized treatment plans, and recurring outcomes measures.

These needs are best served by an EHR tailored to this field. Behavioral health billing codes are also complex, and insurance claims and authorizations may be more difficult to secure. An EHR with specialized billing features can help with this. Choosing a specialized EHR can avoid many pitfalls you may encounter with a generic EHR.

The Role of EHRs in CBT

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a type of talk-based psychotherapy that is grounded in action and problem-solving. Like DBT, because CBT is evidence-based and can be effective in a relatively short time, it is more likely to be covered by insurance.

CBT helps the patient develop cognitive and behavioral strategies that promote adaptive behaviors and thoughts, emotional regulation, and coping strategies. CBT can be effective for treating anxiety, eating disorders, many types of addictions, and more.

An EHR that supports CBT should include the ability to build and adjust detailed treatment plans with your patients, which should include assessments, timelines, goals/objectives, and monitoring/evaluation. Clinical documentation features should be available that allow practitioners to easily generate narratives, complete clinical notes, pre-fill assessments, and chart progress.

A specialized behavioral health EHR should include note templates for CBT and other types of therapy, and they should be easy to customize. Telehealth features should be available to allow patients to complete therapy remotely. Ideally, the EHR should also have a patient portal where assessments can be sent out to patients, and they can complete them.

Furthermore, because CBT requires numerous appointments, your EHR should include top-notch scheduling and appointment reminder features, along with billing and claims tracking features that help make sure you get paid for every appointment.

The Role of EHRs in DBT

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) builds upon CBT with more specialized treatment stages and core techniques that promote mindfulness, uplifting interpersonal relationships, and self-esteem, while diminishing self-destructive behaviors.

DBT can be particularly effective for borderline personality disorder (BPD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but typically requires more intense therapy sessions and time than CBT. The features in an effective behavioral health EHR for DBT overlap with CBT but are even more important, due to the additional complexity and documentation workloads for DBT.

In particular, modular structured note templates and advanced assessment data tools can help your practice take a data-oriented and efficacious approach toward DBT. Specialized items such as skills training and tracking along with diary cards, which can be sent to the patient via the EHR’s patient portal, can help treatment flow smoother, with a clearer picture of how DBT is working for the patient in day-to-day life.

Benefits of Using Specialized EHRs for CBT and DBT

Overall, an EHR built for CBT, DBT, and other behavioral health therapies can streamline clinical workflows, which leads to improved quality of care and enhanced patient outcomes. On the back end, a specialized EHR also tends to do a better job of managing and reducing paperwork and minimizing manual administrative tasks.