Located in Virginia and spanning three counties—Halifax, Mecklenburg, and Brunswick—Southside Behavioral Health is a cornerstone Community Service Board dedicated to serving rural populations. With 17 locations strategically dispersed throughout the three counties, Southside is committed to providing essential services to children and adults alike.
At the heart of their mission lies a comprehensive range of services, including Behavioral Health and Wellness, Children and Family Services, Developmental Disabilities, Substance Use Disorder, Emergency Services, Prevention, and Early Intervention.
Since 2011, Southside has leveraged the Credible electronic health record (EHR) solution from Qualifacts to streamline their operations and enhance client care. Serving rural communities, Southside Behavioral Health prioritizes an EHR equipped with tools for practitioners and staff to effectively address client needs. This involves tracking missed appointments due to transportation limitations and lack of public transit, which are known Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) barriers to care.
“Front end staff used a manual appointment reminder system that compounded administrative burdens, while frequent no-show appointments resulted in unproductive, unbillable hours for Practitioners, with no documentation or billing.”
Nicole Lewis, Director of Quality Compliance with Southside Behavioral Health expressed the challenges they faced without a virtual care solution specifically, “Front end staff used a manual appointment reminder system that compounded administrative burdens, while frequent no-show appointments resulted in unproductive, unbillable hours for Practitioners, with no documentation or billing.” The COVID-19 pandemic further complicated these issues and highlighted the critical need for a virtual care solution to serve Southside Behavioral Health clients.
In 2022, Southside Behavioral Health discovered Qualifacts’ acquisition of the OnCall Virtual Care solution and its ability to seamlessly integrate into the Credible EHR. This simplified their quest for the right virtual care solution. While their initial motivation was to improve accessibility, the urgency of the COVID-19 Pandemic expedited their adoption timeline.
Lewis commented, “OnCall Virtual Care provides clients with access to care when transportation to their appointment isn’t available or doesn’t show up. It’s also beneficial for the client who may have to cancel an appointment due to other circumstances, that they have the option to make it virtually.”
In the months since Southside Behavioral Health launched the OnCall Virtual Care platform, the organization has gained several notable improvements: .
- Front desk appointment confirmation became more efficient, reducing the need for front desk staff to manually call clients.
- Clearing statuses of unconfirmed appointments enables staff to determine which time slots are available for others to fill.
- Clients experienced improved access to care, as they could log in from private locations to receive treatment if they couldn’t attend in-person appointments.
- Remote staff gained the ability to send forms for client signatures, aiding in billing processes, gathering missing information from charts, and improving overall efficiency.
“OnCall Virtual care is so great, because now we can use remote staff to treat clients from home.”
In her closing statements, Lewis expressed her enthusiasm, saying, “We haven’t been able to hire in-person staff that are licensed to provide our client’s services because of the workforce shortages we’re all facing, which makes providing access to care that much harder. OnCall Virtual care is so great, because now we can use remote staff to treat clients from home.”
Reflecting on her experience, Lewis stated, “I already have been recommending OnCall Virtual Care to fellow behavioral health organizations. The onboarding team was great to work with and the seamless integration with Credible made the transition smooth.”
