Mental Health Association in Passaic County Partners with Patagonia Health

Tag Archives: EHR Vendor

Mental Health Association in Passaic County Partners with Patagonia Health

MHA in Passaic Selects Patagonia Health's Behavioral Health EHR

Patagonia Health, Inc., a member of the NJAMHAA Information Technology Council, is excited to announce their partnership with Mental Health Association in Passaic County (MHAPC). MHAPC provides mental health services and advocacy to children, adults and families affected by mental illness across the greater Passaic, New Jersey area. MHAPC will support their services with Patagonia Health’s cloud-based Electronic Health Record, Practice Management and Billing solution.

In selecting an EHR system, MHAPC put a premium on finding a vendor with an intuitive, comprehensive reporting platform, an automated billing workflow with connections to NJ Medicaid, Medicare, and commercial payers, as well as a responsive customer service team. Patagonia Health’s federally certified solution fit this criteria and fell well within MHAPC’s budget.

“Selecting a new EHR system is a major decision, and the process can be a bit unsettling,” said Joanne Greene, Executive Director of MHAPC. “I feel great moving forward with Patagonia Health. They have a ten-year track record of success, subject matter experts who understand our environment and a high-touch implementation and training model to help us through the transition. We feel confident Patagonia Health will provide the dedicated service we were seeking.”

“In addition to a partnership,” added MHAPC Fiscal Administrator Edward Beverly, “there was core functionality we needed that Patagonia Health delivers. We will no longer need to cobble reports together from different data sources, and the Patagonia Health billing system will be a vast improvement by automating the sending of claims and posting of remittance directly into the system. Removing the need to manually upload and download files will relieve a huge burden on our staff.”

Patagonia Health is designed with the functionality necessary for behavioral health agencies to successfully deliver their services and meet regulatory requirements. The integrated solution can be configured for the agency, personalized down to the individual user, and customized when needed. 

About Patagonia Health, Inc.

“We are looking forward to building a long-term relationship with the team at MHAPC,” Amos Slaymaker, VP of Sales and Marketing at Patagonia Health, said. “We are excited to bring not only our technology, but also our award-winning service to support the delivery of mental health services in Passaic County and across New Jersey.”

Patagonia Health, Inc. is a healthcare software supplier with a cloud and apps-based software solution that is designed specifically for Public and Behavioral Health agencies. The solution includes an integrated, federally-certified, Electronic Health Record (EHR), Practice Management (PM) and Billing software. The company’s mission is to solve two major barriers to EHR adoption − usability and cost − and address customers’ number one problem: billing. Patagonia Health’s highly-intelligent solution is extremely easy to use and provides timely data for organizations to improve workflow, streamline operations and take their organizations to the next level. For more information, visit https://patagoniahealth.com.

About Mental Health Association in Passaic County

For the last three decades, Mental Health Association in Passaic County (MHAPC) has been helping people change their lives by providing high quality, free services to help our community in need, restore order, wellness, and confidence to their lives. The mission of the MHAPC is to serve children, adults and families affected by mental illness through support services, education, and advocacy. MHAPC is dedicated to increasing public awareness and understanding of mental health issues and enhancing mental health services in Passaic County. MHAPC acts to ensure that every person in Passaic County with a mental illness receives prompt and appropriate treatment in the most therapeutic, least restrictive setting closest to home. For more information about MHAPC, visit http://www.mhapassaic.org.

Is the Sun Setting on your current EHR system?

EHR system changes

Is your current Electronic Health Record (EHR) software being phased out by your vendor?  Due to mergers and acquisitions (not to mention advanced technology) within the EHR system market, many vendors either inherit or develop newer modern systems resulting in multiple EHR product offerings.  When this happens, it is common for these vendors to sunset the lesser of their EHR products as they are no longer able to support antiquated software.

 

For health agencies with a specific focus, such as public health departments, FQHCs, Community Health Centers, and others, finding out that your EHR vendor is discontinuing its EHR can be a blessing in disguise.

 

Typically, when a vendor phases out an old system their plan is to convert all the current users to their new system, hoping the transition will be a natural move. This conversion, however, is not required and creates a perfect opportunity to do research on other EHR options for your practice.  For Public Health Departments and Community Health Centers, this can be a pivotal time to improve your workflow and processes.

 

If you have enough advanced knowledge of the upcoming changes happening with your current EHR vendor, you can make some educated decisions about the next steps. You should treat the new system from your vendor like every other vendor in the RFP process. When selecting a new EHR vendor make sure to ask the right questions during the demos to make sure you can compare each system what you actually need.  Make sure any vendors you view can help you migrate to the new system so you won’t be struggling to figure it out on your own.  Find out what sort of programs the vendor offers to help with the cost and processes of adoption, and make sure the vendor has a solid training and implementation process. Exemplary customer service and support can make a world of difference when deciding on an EHR system and for a successful EHR implementation.

 

Whether your current EHR system is being discontinued/replaced, is no longer a good fit after a merger, or you simply outgrew the capabilities of the systems, take the time to do the due diligence and adopt the best EHR for your Health department. If your current vendor doesn’t fit your needs or have a solid plan for helping you move to a new system, find an EHR that does. You have options, so take the time to make the best decision for your health department or health center.