Clinical Director

Top Technology Tips To Streamline Your Practice

One of the many challenges of private practice, especially solo practice, is efficiently and effectively juggling administrative and practice management tasks with clinical work. Since I often blog about my favorite technology tips, I reached out to other therapists "in the trenches" of private practice to see what technology they find most helpful to streamline practice management. Here are the devices, programs, and software they use most and how it helps them successfully run their practice. Dr. Trevor Small, Clinical Director and Psychologist for Bridges to Recovery, a private, behavioral health facility has several tech tips that help streamline his practice:

  1. Quicdoc: This is a great program for documenting and following patients progress as well as helping with insurance requirements.
  2. Therapist Helper: Billing software extraordinaire!
  3. iCal: It is fantastic for billing and keeping track of patient hours.

California psychiatrist David M. Reiss, M.D. suggests these technology tips:

  1. ONE Box Voicemail/Efax and Google Voicemail - There may be cheaper or better companies supplying this service, but I've been using them several years and I have not checked any other companies. The One Box/efax allows all phone messages and faxes sent to my office to come to me via email, which I can then read on any computer or my iphone, and can save. I don't have to call in for messages; I can listen on the road; i can respond from wherever I am, and I can respond to faxes without waiting to a hard copy. I can then save the message in organized files as needed. I have a Google phone number which goes directly to my office number - those messages also come to me via email - and come transcribed. The transcription quality is mediocre, many words inaccurate. Usually good enough to get a sense of the message and the call back, but not perfect. Maybe there are better services than this available, but it comes in handy at time, combined with the One Box.
  2. Google calendar - Again, there may be others offering the same service, but this is easy because it attaches to my email. I can keep a calendar,  and keep non-confidential notes regarding appointments kept, no-shows, reports sent  regarding evaluations electronically in a way that is accessible at  any time from wherever I am, as long as I have Internet or phone, and I can share  it with any office personnel one I choose to allow access.
  3. DropBox (or any other cloud service) - I now have 15 years of complete  medical records accessible to me to read, email, fax immediately from anywhere i have the internet or via iPhone. Makes keeping, storing,  updating, referencing and transmitting medical records much easier, quicker  and more efficient.

Psychologist Tamsen Thorpe, PhD, Director of New Jersey's Directions, a Center for Life Strategies, LLC swears by the following technology to manage her practice:

  1. Therasoft On-line - Web based practice management. Key is that it is web-based and can be accessed anywhere versus software.
  2. Google calendar - This program is great for interfacing home and office schedules.
  3. Smart phone - Allows me access to emails and calendars on the go. Clients email me non-confidential information mostly about appointments.

Clinical neuropsychologist and chief of psychology at Saint Barnabas Medical Center as well as a professor at Kean Ilyse O'Desky, Psy.D. relies on these technology suggestions for teaching and practice management:

  1. Dragonspeak  voice transcription software - Between writing patient reports and professional papers, this has made my life much easier and I can complete any written work (including e-mails) much faster.
  2. PowerPoint - I think this has improved my lecture presentations dramatically and has allowed me to have much more fun with the 4 or 6 hour presentations I give nationally.
  3. iPadFirst, I can download articles directly to the IPAD to read whenever it is convenient and next, I can demonstrate apps to patients or their parents that I think can be used for cognitive training.

New York psychotherapis, Mary Pender Greene, LCSW-R  suggests:

  1. WebinarsI use this platform for training new clinicians on how to build their practices, among other topics. 
  2. Twitter/TweetDeckI use Twitter to share the key points from my blog, inspirational quotes, links to articles, and links to resources. I use TweetDeck to automate my tweets, which average about 10 per day.
  3. SkypeI use this program to facilitate online group discussions and also to expand the reach of my private practice to include clients that are at a great distance from my office. 

Dr. Trevor Small adds the best tech tip of all...back up your documents. "It is so simple, but nobody does it. Also, it is important to make sure that what is stored is stored according to HIPPA compliance requirements," Small says.

What technology do you use to streamline your practice? What programs, apps, devices would be hard for you to live without?

Multiple Income Streams Soothe Therapist's Financial Anxiety (part 1)

Relying solely on direct clinical hours may leave private practitioners financially vulnerable to income instability. Since client hours in private practice can vary greatly depending on the time of year, state of the economy, number of new referrals, and several other factors, developing multiple income streams can help you to create a more stable income. "By having the other income streams in place, I have been able to be less susceptible to the ebbs and flows that occur in private practice during difficult economic times," says The Rev. Christopher L. Smith, LCAC, LMHC, LMFT. In addition to providing income stability, diversifying your professional activities with multiple income streams allows therapists to explore a variety of interests, to express creativity, and to get paid for their passions.

In addition to clinical hours, I own and serve as clinical director of a private therapy clinic where I oversee and supervise 10 therapists, write for PsychCentral and other publications, work as a relationship and emotional health media contributor, do public speaking, provide consultation to therapists building a private practice, and I'm currently writing my first book.  Curious about what other private practitioners are doing to add to income stability I reached out to several successful colleagues to see what additional income streams they've developed. Here's a sampling of what other therapists are doing to diversify their professional life and achieve greater income stability.

Write and publish a book

Many therapists have taken their clinical expertise and turned it into a book. For example, Frank J. Sileo, PhD has  written three children's books, including Bug Bites and Campfires: A Story for Kids about Homesickness (Health Press, 2009). Clinical Psychologist Dr. John Duffy took his passion for parenting and authored a book The Available Parent: Radical Optimism For Raising Teens and Tweens (Viva Editions, 2011). What areas of expertise could you write about?

Write for print publications

Supplementing clinical work, Terrie Browning, LPC, CFC, DCC writes for a column "My Healthy Mind" for a local magazine My Metro You. Not only does it provide additional revenue but she says it's also personally fulfilling. Of writing for publications she says, "Writing allows me to share knowledge on topics that are a concern for many people and offers a way for me to network myself."  Therapist Karen R. Koenig, LCSW, M.Ed. has successfully written for professional publications including Social Work Focus, Social Work Today, Addiction Treatment Forum, and The Newsletter for the Society for Family Therapy and Research, adding an additional income stream.

Create a therapeutic product

Have you considered creating and selling a product based on your clinical expertise? Stephanie Ann Adams, M.A., LPC of Beginnings Counseling & Consulting, created a hybrid counseling/video series for premarital counseling through Twogether in Texas. To help families deal with the stress of relocation Jill Kristal, President of Transitional Learning Curves, developed a game and book series called 'Our Move'.

Develop a professional online network

The internet allows for many options for therapists to create passive income through membership sites. In addition to writing a local magazine column and providing clinical work, Browning, with the help of her adult children, developed a professional wellness center online called Experts Now. This online center offers wellness experts an avenue to offer services and sell products for a commission creating additional income for Browning.

Contract as a consultant

Consider asking yourself, "Which companies or organizations may want to tap into your areas of expertise?" Therapist Dr. Mario Kirk, LPC, Director, A Blessed Child, LLC, performs psychological testing for local attorneys and schools. Women's reproductive health specialist Pec Indman EdD, MFT consults and trains for county health programs and for the US Federal government.

Are you developing multiple streams of income to supplement your direct care hours? Please share your ideas in a comment below.

Watch for multiple income streams part 2 later this week!