The form fields that are selected for each question will determine the quality of a form and the quality of the data you collect in your EHR software. It’s important that you understand each of the different field types to make sure you’re selecting the one that works best for your purposes.
You know that monitoring behavioral health outcomes is important for a wide variety of reasons. You need to be able to track how you and your staff are performing so that you can address any performance issues that may arise. You need to track how your clients are improving so that your clinicians can have an appropriate measure when helping them improve. And so that they can provide clients with a tangible example of their progress. Finally, you need to be able to track how your agency is doing as a whole so you can provide your board of directors and providers with a comprehensive view of your agency.
So, outcomes are important. But how do you collect the data you need to track them on the forms you’re creating?
If you utilize the number only field, then you’re able to manipulate your reporting mathematically. It’s important to use a number only field to ensure that you’re able to work with the data. If you used a field without this restriction, having even one word included in your data set could mess up your reporting.
With outcomes measurement tools like the DLA-20, CANS, and PHQ-9 being used more frequently, number only fields make it easy to track the numerical results of these tools and use them to report on the outcomes.
