Behavioral health doesn’t get enough funding or attention from us in healthcare. That’s why AdvancedMD‘s recent launch of an eMAR (electronic medication administration record) designed explicitly for this space is worth a closer look.
Healthcare IT Today sat down on camera with David Wilson, Vice President of Business Development at AdvancedMD, to discuss the origin of this new solution, how it fills a critical gap for mental health practices, and where the market is heading next.
Core Insight: As behavioral health practices bring intensive outpatient programs in-house to combat compressing reimbursements, they require specialized, point-of-care medication administration tools to remain compliant and profitable.
Filling the Point-of-Care Gap
In a typical outpatient setting, a prescription is written, and the patient fulfills the script at a pharmacy. However, for partial hospitalization or intensive outpatient programs, especially those offering medication-assisted treatment for substance use disorders, medication is often administered on-site, right at the point of care. This requires rigorous inventory tracking and DEA compliance reporting for controlled substances.
“eMAR is something that is really table stakes and a requirement for behavioral health groups who are engaging in certain types of programs,” explained Wilson. AdvancedMD recognized this specific gap in their otherwise robust behavioral health portfolio and built the eMAR as a fully integrated, modular component to help their clients successfully run these specialized programs.
Following the Shift to In-House Behavioral Health
The decision to build this solution was a strategic response to customer needs and not just about rounding out a product suite. Following a 2023 CMS policy change that opened up reimbursements for intensive outpatient programs, more behavioral health practices stopped referring patients out and started building these programs themselves.
Wilson noted, “We’re seeing more and more groups try to bring that service line or that business line in-house as a way to combat contraction in reimbursements and also as a way to provide better patient care.”
Fortunately, adopting the new tool isn’t a massive IT burden for these growing practices. “We don’t envision this being a multi-month implementation process,” shared Wilson. “We drop this in, and the practice now has the tools they need”.
What Healthcare IT Leaders Are Asking
How does a dedicated eMAR module impact our overall compliance and reporting posture? For organizations expanding into medication-assisted treatments, relying on makeshift tracking or standard EHR workarounds is a massive liability. A dedicated eMAR automates the heavy lifting of inventory tracking and regulatory reporting, specifically for closely monitored treatments. This reduces the administrative friction for clinical staff while ensuring the organization stays aligned with strict federal and state guidelines.
Does adding a new clinical module require a significant retraining effort for the entire practice? Unlike core EHR replacements that disrupt an entire enterprise, modular eMAR rollouts are highly targeted. Because point-of-care medication administration is typically handled by a small, specific subset of clinical staff within a broader behavioral health practice, the technology only touches the people who actually need it. This focused implementation strategy accelerates adoption and keeps the broader organization focused on patient care without overwhelming the rest of the team.
Learn more about AdvancedMD at https://www.advancedmd.com/
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