Hospitality House expands addiction treatment and optimizes growth with myEvolv®

Hospitality House is a residential treatment facility licensed by the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS). Over the past few years, OASAS has created new licensing guidelines based on Medicaid billing, which Hospitality House has seen as an opportunity for growth. From a 45-bed facility, the agency is now expanding to 72 beds and embracing a person-centered approach to care. Residents now receive primary care, co-occurring mental health care and nutrition services, with physical therapy to be added in the near future.

This means that Hospitality House, who adopted its first electronic health record (EHR) not long ago, is suddenly facing a complete overhaul of their infrastructure. Hospitality House’s challenges turned into results as the Netsmart myEvolv® enterprise offered the customization, ease of operation and efficiency needed to take on the future.

Hospitality House is an all-male residential treatment facility for individuals struggling with and navigating substance use disorders. Clients engage in weekly individual counseling, group therapy and peer workshops, with family support therapy as a resource for loved ones. A forward-looking organization since its inception, Hospitality House is now poised to offer whole-person care, with the latest advances in technology.

Netsmart is the future — consistently innovating. Netsmart is an innovator. My agency is an innovator. We’re a small agency wanting to do big things.

Young Do, LMSW, Executive Director, Hospitality House

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Challenge

Hospitality House still thinks of itself as a small operation. But regulatory changes have allowed them to embrace their innovative spirit. “You’ve got to really think about where you want your agency to be in five to ten years,” said Young Do, LMSW, Executive Director. With this clarity of vision, Hospitality House decided to bring primary care, nursing, nutrition and physical therapy in-house. The organization also received funding from the State of New York to help build a new, four-story building, signifying a major scale in operations.

The only problem? Technology

Hospitality House purchased their first EHR within the last decade. This solution worked well enough for a small residential facility, but it wasn’t built for growth. There was no place for doctors to make clinical notes, or for nurses to enter medical histories. There was no way for new providers like nutritionists to integrate and customize their documents. And innovations like e-prescribing and electronic lab results simply didn’t exist.

Inter-departmental communication was also impossible, which posed a very real problem for integrated care. For example, a resident might present as depressed or sluggish during a therapy session, without the therapist seeing that the doctor had added a new medication.

The user interface is just so simple. I think simple is best, and I think that’s what [Netsmart has] done well. Everybody loves the little widgets. Because it’s like oh, I can configure it to everything that I do.

Young Do, LMSW, Executive Director, Hospitality House

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Consequently, there was also no way for the therapist to ask the doctor about the resident’s changed behavior and possible side effects.

Finally, financial operations had become exponentially more complicated with the addition of new departments. Even with outside vendor support, billing for tomorrow simply wasn’t an option with the tools of yesterday.

The solution

myEvolv® is a fully web-based, ONC-certified EHR solution with comprehensive clinical, case management and billing features. It’s also designed specifically for organizations like Hospitality House that focus on substance recovery. Like every Netsmart EHR, myEvolv® features a clinically- driven user experience, with a workflow that can be customized to meet an organization’s needs. Administrators and clinicians can add documentation and forms that support their care model, including medication history or nutrition assessments. Plus, the myEvolv® interface can be customized seamlessly for an organization’s workflow.

myEvolv® is a single, dedicated subscription for every solution. It’s meant to integrate with other aspects of the Netsmart CareFabric® platform to increase efficiency in billing, scheduling, clinical documentation –– any aspect of care. Integrated care requires different teams to communicate with each other in near-real time, which myEvolv® easily supports. It also offers innovations like e-prescribing and lab integration to boost productivity. Records, data collection and reporting can be shared with all users across the organization. Clinicians no longer need to push paper, allowing them to focus on providing care.

Administrators also benefit from the documentation, reporting and data analytics offered by myEvolv®. In addition, myEvolv supports the New York State Clinical Records Initiative (NYSCRI), which offers outpatient and residential service providers a set of resources to assist with billing, operations and clinical documentation. All of this goes beyond the EHR to reduce errors, save time and increase revenue.

The results

Every agency has growing pains, especially one as visionary as Hospitality House. But even with their eyes on a major expansion, daily operations became easier.

Hospitality House took advantage of myEvolv and its configurable workflow to add new care modalities without changing the user experience. “You don’t have to retrain everybody and say we do things differently now because of the new system,” said Do. “Once we went live, there wasn’t a huge learning curve.” Instead of dealing with technology, clinicians were able to spend more time with residents. They could share notes, view treatment plans and review assessments, for a complete picture of the whole person.

Having all digital solutions in one platform also paid off. Do recalls talking to other software companies who offered piecemeal solutions, but only Netsmart gave him everything he needed. Not only that, Netsmart acted as a care partner, introducing Hospitality House to other Netsmart clients in New York for honest user feedback and tips.

It all works out to making clinicians happier with their jobs. Instead of having to worry about the right place to put their documentation, the staff at Hospitality House simply configured their workflow and went about doing their jobs. Instead of operating in silos, they were able to work together as a team. Employee retention is an ongoing challenge in behavioral health, but Hospitality House employees can enjoy the perks of a growing operation without the administrative pain points.

Do is proud of his organization’s vision, their support from New York State and the ease with which staff are making the transition. Technology can be a boost or a burden, but for Hospitality House, it’s been an absolute game changer. The ease and configurable workflow of myEvolv has helped this small agency keep looking ahead toward big things. “You really have to look at the future and you have to partner with people who have that same vision,” Do said. Netsmart is proud to be that partner.