Epic offers a suite of medical practice management and EHR software.
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Therap
Score 9.0 out of 10
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Therap Electronic Health Records allow users to track different types of health data and create reports for Individuals, from Therap Services Waterbury.
Epic is great to access from home or anywhere there is a wifi connection. It is very convenient for office or hospital employees. One time when it is not optimal is when I write a Certification of Terminal Illness for a hospice patient. I can never see it again. It drops off of Epic. I wish those notes would remain.
Therap is best used by persons who primarily work on a computer. This would include administrative work and supervisors or direct care staff who work in a group environment and enter documentation on the computer. While there is minimal room to adjust any of the forms to reflect agency specific documentation, the form templates themselves offer flexibility within the template. The exception being that whatever standard one uses for measurement must be carried out throughout the form to which the measurement standard is attached. Much of the documentation entered into the system must occur in the browser making access through a mobile devise cumbersome. The daily documentation (ISP Programs, T-logs and MARS) are available on the mobile app itself and is pretty straight forward. In this regard persons who work in the field including any supervisory staff in the field can enter documentation easily on this app. There are significant limitations though in that there is no ability to save a return to a form and the default time out is 30 minutes.
Pros: EVV, all inclusive EHR including plans, documentation, forms, MAR and more, excellent reports to capture data across all documents, Ability to export reports by PDF and Excel, provides good training, feedback, and communicates disruptions to the system as well as a walk through of updates made to the system.
Cons: browser access is not mobile friendly, scheduling is cumbersome, inability to save as you go, inability to create plans for the same service year for multiple services, no time out warning on the mobile app.
Interdisciplinary Communication: The care of patients improves when you are able to have the entire care team communicate with each other. Epic makes this process very easy by utilizing one chart for all physicians in the organizations. Care decisions and patient safety are greatly improved by seeing past decision making processes.
Patient Communication: With features like MyChart and Care Everywhere, Epic gives patients a great deal of control over their information. MyChart acts like a patient portal allowing them to see what their providers have to say, see lab results, make payments, and share information with their doctor all from a mobile device or computer. Having features like this allow the patient to take part in their care.
Improves Claim Efficiency: The way that Epic handles insurance claims is incredible. Claims are correct and double checked before they are sent to the insurance companies. This in turn, reduces the number of denials and improves the speed of payments.
Therap has some very nice reports to track billing, documentation, end user activities, and much more!
Therap did not disappoint in a smooth EVV process.
Therap's billing is program works quite well.
The alerting system works very well particularly for alerting T-log entries (we use this for our incident reporting)
To be fair, they have a number of documentation tools that are very helpful (seizure logs, food diary, medical appointments and so much more) on the browser version of the program.
We provide a number of services to the same individual. VA requires a separate plan (ISP) for each service. Therap only allows one plan that covers a specific date and will not permit overlap.
Because we provide supplemental services, most of our employees are field workers and rely on a table to access the record and enter documentation. the mobile app is very limited in what the user can document (T-Logs, MARs, and ISP Data). The browser version is far to cumbersome to use on a tablet and only the browser version contains some of the other useful documentation tools.
Employees cannot save and return to data that has been entered. It must be completed in one setting before timing out.
The mobile app times out in 30 minutes without warning creating issues with documentation not being saved.
Scheduling is a nightmare. It is cumbersome and difficult to navigate. It does not seamlessly roll schedules over. It is also impossible for management to adjust schedules when away from a computer as the browser version (required to change schedules) is not mobile friendly and difficult to navigate on a phone or tablet.
There is no measure available to prevent 'clocking out" before documentation is entered. This can create a logistical and time consuming processes to reconcile the billing and pay.
You should invest time into taking a training class before using Epic, but once you get the hang of it the usability features are endless! My favorite part about Epic is how it is automated and "trained" to catch user errors that would typically be missed in normal documentation/charting. This ensures accuracy and eliminates errors.
A dedicated support staff for each module/area is provided by Epic. This is beneficial for points of contact, however, not all support staff are created equal, and there seems to be high turnover in these roles(staff seems to turn over every 1-2 years). This can make it challenging for continuity and quick support resolution as new staff are not as familiar with organization-specific needs, environments, and/or questions.
Epic gives extensive customization options in terms of utility and view. I have found this to be highly useful and efficient EHR as compared to other EHRs we use in our organization.
The products that we have researched and used int he past are not listed as available options.
Lauris Online - completely customizable EHR system based on templates the agency uses. The process is cumbersome though in that each form has to be submitted to production with a wait time to go live up to 6 weeks. This can be challenging to business who have the ability to work on the fly and correct forms as they see fit. The reports are also challenging.
MITC - Capriccio Elite, LLC currently uses this program to supplement the pieces of Therap that do not work for us. This include a robust workforce management program (times sheet, clock in and out, documentation with ability to save, a number of alerts letting management know of no shows or late arrivals, completely mobile friendly, prohibits clocking out until documentation is complete, ease of use for administrators to make changes on a computer or mobile device.
It must have had a positive impact as things get done quicker, leading to easier billing/coding. It must be saving a lot of money and time. I am not aware of a better product.
The cost of the program is fantastic and doable for start up business to large operations
Because of the price, it is easy to ignore Therap's deficits so long as there are other options available to fill in the gaps
ROI on the time (= money) it takes to reenter information due to unannounced time outs creates dissatisfaction with the workforce and additional administrative time to walk through it
ROI on time (= money) it takes to assure there is a match between clocking in and out and time entered on the billable documentation is pretty substantial. An agency can easily find itself under billing or over paying staff.
