Occupational Therapy Software

As an occupational therapist, you strive to help people overcome mental or physical issues that keep them from performing their best at work and in everyday life. But as someone who works in a healthcare domain that doesn't rely on medicinal or surgical interventions, your technology requirements will not likely align with what general medical software provides.

For that reason, you'll want to evaluate solutions that are specific to occupational therapy, but selecting one occupational therapy solution from among the hundreds on the market can be overwhelming. That's why we've created this buyers guide to detail everything you need to know before making the final purchase decision. 

Here's what we'll cover:

• What is occupational therapy software?
• Common features of occupational therapy software
• What type of buyer are you?
• Benefits of occupational therapy software
• Key considerations

What is occupational therapy software?

An occupational therapy solution allows therapists to use specific note templates, flowsheets, and tests to treat their patients. The software platforms are designed to meet the specific needs of therapists who treat patients with a physical, sensory, or cognitive disability to help them regain skills for daily tasks.

Occupational therapy software offers very different functionality from software programs geared towards primary care and related specialties, although some features do overlap.

Such software offers a range of tools that facilitate everything from clinical documentation and patient scheduling to medical billing and insurance claims submission. The software provides therapists with each patient's health details, progress status, and billable particulars.

Patient info and billing alerts in StrataEMR (Source)

 

Common features of occupational therapy software

Different vendors offer different features in their occupational therapy software. Selecting the right occupational therapy software for your practice is easier when you know the common features and what they do.

Patient charting	Create and record each patient's medical data and history in a single chart.
Specialty-specific notes templates	Use specific note templates for activities of daily living (ADL), disabilities of the arm, shoulder, and hand (DASH), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), etc. Some vendors offer provisions for customizable templates, drop-down menus, click boxes, and electronic signatures.
Outcomes/progress tracking	Turn data in occupational therapy notes into reports for gauging the health outcomes or progress of a patient.
Patient scheduling	Automate scheduling tasks, identify scheduling conflicts, and send out appointment reminder notifications.
Medical billing	Manage patient payments and claims submissions. Functions include claims management, insurance eligibility checks, and payment processing.
Case management	Manage the delivery of comprehensive healthcare services for each patient. Provide healthcare services as per each patient's requirements, while controlling the costs.
Coding tools	Select and enter codes in notes, bills, and claims from pre-programmed menus. Clinical documentation codes usually include Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) and International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes.

To further understand these features and learn about occupational therapy software vendors, call our advisors at 855-998-8505 for free, no-obligation help. They'll help you narrow down your options by listening to your requirements and recommending the best-suited solutions for your practice.

What type of buyer are you?

Before you start evaluating occupational therapy software options, you'll want to know what buyer category you belong to. We believe most buyers will fall into one of the below categories:

• Solo therapists: These buyers are either practicing therapists that are transitioning from paper charts to digital platforms or have just started their practice. They would be looking for an affordable system with features such as patient charting, templates, and outcome tracking to efficiently handle their patients.

• Small practices with two to four therapists: These buyers often look to improve their practice efficiency and care coordination. They may also want to integrate the occupational therapy system with existing healthcare systems, such as EHR and practice management. They deal with a fair number of patients on a daily basis and would require additional features such as patient scheduling and medical billing.

• Practices with more than five therapists: These buyers are usually healthcare practices with dedicated departments for occupational therapy. They prefer a complete EHR suite with an integrated occupational therapy module. They handle a large volume of patients, and would benefit from billing functionality and patient scheduling capabilities in their EHR suite.

Benefits of occupational therapy software

While some of the benefits of occupational therapy software may be clear from our discussion above, we've called out the most notable ones below:

• Efficient patient care: Occupational therapy software will help you limit your manual efforts so you and your staff can stay focused on patient care. The software will take care of patient scheduling, billing, and offer you ready-made templates for different occupational therapies such as activities of daily living (ADL), disabilities of the arm, shoulder, and hand (DASH), and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL).

• Increased revenue: Occupational therapy software allows you to treat more patients than you would be able to treat without software, increasing your practice revenue. In addition, the software would handle claim submissions, patient insurance eligibility checks, and payment processing—all without the threat of human error. This would allow therapists to plug holes through which they usually lose money.

Key considerations

Here are some important things to consider before you purchase occupational therapy software:

• Mobile support: If you want to access your occupational therapy software on your iPad, iPhone, or Android device, ask your shortlisted vendors if they offer mobile apps.

• Scalability: Ask your shortlisted vendors about the scalability of their tools. You'll need a solution that supports your practice as it grows and is able to handle your expanding needs. For instance, if you plan to add another specialty (such as neurology) to your occupational therapy practice that's currently dealing with just psychiatry, the software must be able to accommodate your requirements.

• Customer support: Find out if the occupational therapy software vendor offers support 24/7, only during business hours, or not at all. Also, ask about available support options, such as email, phone, or live chat.

Note: The applications selected in this article are examples to show a feature in context and are not intended as endorsements or recommendations. They have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable at the time of publication.