How Can Large Practices Improve Patient Retention?


Enterprise-scale mental health and substance abuse treatment programs are becoming increasingly common across the country.
It Started With a Coffee Maker | My Treatment Goals and Objectives


It all started with a coffee maker. My desire to trade in my morning stop at the coffee shop for a fresh cup of home brewed coffee opened the door for my treatment progress. Who knew? My counselor did. In my mid-twenties I experienced some family trauma that left me in a constant state of […]
Charts That Tell a Single Story Improve Inpatient Treatment


Imagine reading a story where each chapter was written by different authors, and as you read through the pages you discover that each new chapter seems to provide a recap of the relevant history needed to understand the upcoming events. But as each chapter opens with the same background, some of the minor details appear […]
4 E-prescribing Benefits Other Than Avoiding Bad Handwriting


Remember when you used to walk into your schoolroom when you were an elementary school student and you were greeted by a handwriting exercise on your desk? You would sit down, grip your pencil and slowly trace the letters in print – and cursive as you got older – before trying to do it freehand. […]
…Do Not Collect $200 – Do Avoid Medicaid Fraud with EHR Hard Stops


Monopoly – The Friendship Ruiner Monopoly is known for ruining friendships. As the number of hotels rises and the number in your bank account dwindles, your resentment grows until you start screaming at the person who snarkily said, “Do not pass go, do not collect $200” after sending you to jail and you overturn the […]
Service, Volunteering and Substance Abuse | History Repeats Itself


For many of us, volunteering is something that we’ve been told to do to be considered a good person. Parents, peers, schools, and employers encourage us to volunteer because there are people less fortunate than us. You could broadly define this perception of volunteering as the ‘haves’ helping the ‘have nots.’ People who live near […]
ACEs Too High | Saving Our Children By the Time Dessert Comes


Several years ago I had the unique opportunity of having dinner with Dr. John Anda and Dr. Sandra Bloom, both pioneers when it comes to trauma and trauma informed care. It was a special experience, of course, with enlightening conversation. With dinner companions such as these, it’s not surprising that we began questioning why the ACEs […]
Pie Charts Hurt Your Outcomes Data | Pros and Cons of Pie Charts


Everyone loves pie. It’s a staple at many holiday and family dinners due to its classic simplicity. Similarly, pie charts are a classic choice in graphs to demonstrate parts against the whole. The structure of a pie chart is inherently associated with percentages as we have all perfected the skill of calculating the amount of […]
Finding Your Ideal Central Intake Worker: See Sample Job Posting


Searching for a new employee can be one of the most frustrating parts of managing an organization. It can be a long process – one that has a significant impact on the success and efficiency of your clinic. Central Intake, a method that helps you manage patients seeking services, makes your clinic run smoother. It […]
Behavioral Health Outcomes in Client and Data Driven Cultures Faceoff


I do remember social work school-it wasn’t that long ago. There was a lot of talk about feelings; about engagement and nonjudgmental interactions; about clients. However, there was not a lot of talk about data. As agencies and therapists have changed, many have asked why data is important when there are clients to worry about. These two […]