Every agency faces the P word with angst. Managers need it to meet their budgets but have little control over it. Clinical staff dreads the subject because they feel management doesn’t think they’re doing their jobs. It’s not enough to be on time to document their notes or have favorable outcomes with their clients. The P word overshadows everything.
The P Word, if you didn’t already guess, stands for Productivity.
Agencies are measured by the amount of time they have their staff spend face-to-face with their clients—the hours spent in actual treatment. But to better understand how to help staff be more productive, agencies have to know what makes staff productive.
Productivity is a function of at least five different variables:
Billing, as the more staff spend with their clients, the higher their hours are.
Documentation, because staff must chart what they’ve done or they cannot bill their services.
Supervision, to learn from their clinical manager the best way to treat their patient.
Staff expertise- their ability to engage clients, find the right treatment for them, and use these treatment tools in their sessions. The more they know what to do, the higher their productivity.
The final factor in the P word is training. Staff in most agencies don’t get the skills to treat their clients in school, and they yearn for ways to deal with crises, high-risk clients, and what to tell parents.
Technology can be a friendly companion to productivity. It can’t see the client for the staff. But it can:
Develop the interventions and complement documenting.
Extend the supervisor’s knowledge to provide skills.
Improve staff expertise through exposing skills in engaging and treating.
Train the staff on new strategies.
What ends up happening is that staff don’t fear the P word. Because they have more tools in their tool kit to work with clients, even the tough ones. Better tools reduce cancelations and improve how the staff works with clients to get their billing hours up as a rule, not an exception.
For more information on how Praxes uses technology to improve productivity, please contact us.
Got questions? We've got answers.
PRAXES is a nationwide behavioral health software, consulting, and training company. No one in the behavioral health industry has a better reputation, and if you give us the chance, we’ll show you why! At PRAXES, our services improve the efficiency and structure of behavioral health agencies serving children and families nationwide. PRAXES brings over 45 years of administrative and clinical expertise. With more than 100 client companies nationwide, we offer the expertise to advance the quality of behavioral health services. We accomplish these goals through our new clinical decision software, our training of best practices, and helping companies meet regulatory standards. At PRAXES, we believe in being creative and fostering new ways to serve children and their families. Our vision is to empower the families our agencies serve with skills that not only improve their functioning, but help them to thrive in their everyday lives. When you give us the chance, you’ll be connected directly to our friendly staff, so you can expect immediate attention to your inquiry. So, don’t wait, call now!
Dan Thorne has unique perspectives on the field of mental health. As a clinician, he has had over 40 years of experience working with clients in the Southern California area. After obtaining his Bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Irvine, he worked with children in the Orange County Juvenile Hall. Here he honed his earliest techniques on at-risk children. After that, he obtained his Master’s degree in Counseling from California State University, Fullerton.
In the 1990’s, Dan turned his attention to the clinical and administrative side of behavioral health organizations. For three years, he was the Assistant Administrator of Starting Point, a chemical dependency facility in Costa Mesa, CA. In 2001, he took an opportunity to be the Director of Harbor View Community Services Center in Long Beach. When he arrived, the Center had only 80 clients and 13 staff. When he left, there were over 400 clients and 75 staff. Dan created several programs through their contract with the Los Angeles County Departments of Mental Health and Child and Family Services. Under his guidance, Harbor View became one of the leading providers of children’s services in Los Angeles County.
While improving the results of the client’s parents at the Center, Dan reflected on his experiences as a parent. His children themselves had special needs such as mental and intellectual challenges, and Dan knew the toll it takes on the parent. In order to help the child, the parent has to be healthy. From this concept, he created his parenting program. After years of refining it, teaching it to his staff at the Center, and then taking the results and comments from these efforts, he became the developer of the current PRAXES program. It is a culmination of Dan’s personal trials and tribulations as a parent along with empirical results and research of over 40 parenting programs.
Our vision at PRAXES is to advance the strength of parents and caregivers of children with special needs (mental health, intellectual, or physical) through education, support, and empowerment. Thus, they can live healthy and functional lives while caring for the child.
Apogee is a clinical decision software designed to help behavioral health practitioners with their treatment and patient engagement. It provides evidence-based and research-based components. Not only do they consist of elements from such practices as Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Seeking Safety, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Functional Behavior Analysis, but also the Intensive Models for Parents, Youth, and Children.
PRAXES has over 30 years of accreditation experience. We know what it takes to get your organization accredited. Whether it’s Joint Commission, CARF, or COA, our team can provide an evaluation of your current status and review the standards which need improvements. We will assist you with the policies, documentation, and training required to be accredited.
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