In 2011, Psychiatrist Anil Gupta, MD made the bold move to open his own practice.  Dr. Gupta made the change from being one of a handful of psychiatrists to being the sole psychiatric provider working with counseling professionals.  Dr. Gupta’s vision led him to open a behavioral health facility that incorporated psychiatric services with individual counseling services.  “There are so many facets of private practice.  You factor in billing management and working with 5 different counselors in two different locations; I needed a practice management program that could simplify the process, not complicate things,” states Gupta.  When Dr. Gupta opened his practice, he knew federal requirements mandated that medical practices switch from paper records to Electronic Health Records (EHR).   Given the demands of private practice and having to implement new procedures, Dr. Gupta turned to Compulink because Psych Advantage streamlined the process.

The Compulink Solution

“What attracted me to Psych Advantage initially is the ability to be able to tailor the program in order to meet my specific needs.  A lot of software companies do not have the capability to customize; you have to work with whatever template they already have set up and that may not work for what you need,” reports Gupta.  “Even though our practice is in two different locations, it is small so many of the features we don’t need.  Psych Advantage covers everything we do need and allows me to get rid of anything that we don’t use.”

Using Psych Advantage has simplified the often times complicated billing process.  “I could not have imagined anything making our lives easier with trying to coordinate five counselors, two office locations, and tracking income from all of the services provided,” says Gupta.   “It has been really, really easy.”  Compulink features the ability to focus on individual client’s accounts.  “I don’t think there is any better software out there,” states Gupta.  “The best part of the billing system is that everything is there on the computer screen; not tucked away in a file somewhere.  We are able to see instantly how much the patient owes, how much is still pending from the insurance company as well as answer the client’s questions right then and there.  Having a ledger on each desk top has been really helpful because lots of times if I don’t collect money right then and there, I will never see it.”

Implementing Psych Advantage into his practice has also allowed Dr. Gupta to improve the continuum of care for his patients.  “One thing I really appreciate about Psych Advantage is how easy it is to access and evaluate the patient’s medical history.  For example, let’s say I’ve been seeing a patient for five years that suffers with depression and anxiety.  I am able to glance through rather quickly and see their medication history.  I can check why I changed their medication, what problems the patient was having, and what changed for the patient after switching their medications.  If I had to go through paper charts, I would have to go through five years of logs.  The software is designed so that I can track changes, reasoning and results,” states Gupta.

The Outcome

Implementing Compulink’s Psych Advantage into his practice has allowed for greater productivity and organization for Dr. Gupta’s practice.  Dr. Gupta has been able to cut down on overhead because of Compulink’s efficiency.    Dr. Gupta reports, “I have been able to trim my office staff down by at least one employee because of Psych Advantage’s ability to have all information integrated into one place.  In other offices we needed more staff because we had to have someone who could pull files and at least one other person that was able to do all of the billing. I no longer have that need.  Everything is accessible on the computer screen, allowing one person to do multiple tasks with ease and efficiency.”

Along with the cut in overhead, Compulink also makes it easy for Dr. Gupta’s practice to obtain the Meaningful Use incentive from the government.  Dr. Gupta states, “Compulink’s program satisfies all the requirements mandated by the government in order for our practice to get the monetary incentive for switching to EHR.”

Practice Pearls

Dr. Gupta offers this perspective to those considering EHR software:

“Compulink’s Psych Advantage makes it really easy to implement EHR.  If we have any questions, Compulink’s staff is really good.  Their response time has been quick and they spend time with us anytime we have a question.  Their staff is really, really helpful.”

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