NNews-July-2023

35 July 2023 NextStep Solutions’ Interoperable EHR Helps Ensure Outcomes Achievement and Value-Based Reimbursement Provision of integrated care bymultiple providers requires that electronic health record (EHR) systems be interoperable. This will be even more critical when New Jersey’s behavioral healthcare system transitions from fee-for-service reimbursement to value-based payment (VBP). NextStep Solutions, amember of NJAMHAA’s Technology Council, has an ever-evolving EHR system that meets current needs for providers and the requirements they will have in the future. “Interoperability will be key to ensuring and demonstrating quality of care. Multiple agencies are serving the same patients, so EHRs need to talk to each other,” said David Ballenberger, contracted Subject Matter Expert of NextStep Solutions. “We’re developing a function-based, versus diagnosis- based, treatment template. Function refers, for example, to how patients with substance use disorder get through each day without using.” “In the value-based system, agencies will be asked to share risk. Therefore, they will need to demonstrate outcomes in specific timeframes,” Ballenberger added. “To do this, providers need software that allows demonstration of change incrementally — for example, patients’ progress in getting out of bed every day and ultimately working toward employment. Providers should get paid for each successive step taken toward these goals. All of this relates to the function-based template,” he explained. “Function-based treatment will be key for value-based payment because providers will get paid based on outcomes,” Dawn Buck, Account Executive, emphasized and noted that Darrin Hanna, PhD, Chief Architect, is “a pioneer of value-based payment”. According to Dr. Hanna, “NextStep Solutions makes it easy to talk to each client’s plan and track progress in the short and long termwith periodic review of goals. Each provider decides what defines success and measures it, and the framework is tied directly to client outcomes, as well as billing.” “Details like authorizations are not always straightforward, and tracking them can be complex— for example, by length of stay in inpatient care or other services provided in outpatient settings. Our EHR systemmakes this easier,” Dr. Hanna added. David Ballenberger