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Tag: Clinic Management

Off-Campus Referral Network

Building a Strong Off-Campus Referral Network

Written by Medicat on . Posted in Industry Articles.

When Campus Counseling Isn’t Enough: Building a Strong Off-Campus Referral Network

Guest post by: ThrivingCampus

College counseling centers are under growing pressure to meet increasing student demand with limited resources. Many are finding success by strengthening their off-campus referral networks and offering students both in-person and telehealth options.

Let’s explore how schools are blending trusted local relationships with broader access to create a more connected system of care.

Students and schools anywhere can also use ThrivingCampus.com to search for verified local and telehealth providers, helping make access to quality care more equitable and consistent across communities.

From Local Referrals to Remote Care and Back Again

Before the pandemic, most counseling centers referred students to local therapists they knew well. These community-based relationships ensured a good fit, smoother coordination, and trusted communication.

When COVID-19 hit, everything changed. Almost overnight, therapy moved online. Students began meeting with providers remotely, sometimes their local therapists, but also a growing number of national telehealth companies. The shift expanded access, but often distanced students from providers who understood their campus and community context.

Now, recent data show the pendulum swinging back. According to the 2024 CCMH Annual Report, exclusive in-person counseling sessions rose to 63.7% in 2024, up from just 1.7% in 2020, and about a quarter of students now receive hybrid care. Nearly nine in ten students are getting at least some in-person therapy today.

Students value face-to-face connection, yet they also want the flexibility to find a therapist who shares their language, identity, or lived experience, even if that means working online.

Filter for in-person and hybrid options first, then expand to telehealth to find the right fit.

With ThrivingCampus, schools can offer both: the familiarity of community-based referrals and the reach of telehealth within one continuously updated platform.

Students Are More Therapy-Literate, but Still Need Guidance

Today’s students are more familiar with therapy than ever before. Many have already worked with a private therapist before college, often through telehealth during high school or early college years. They understand what therapy is and why it helps.

Still, finding and contacting a new therapist can be difficult. Students often wonder what to say in an email, how to ask about insurance, or what to do if they do not hear back.

The ThrivingCampus Help Center provides clear, student-friendly guides about how to find a therapist, understand insurance, and reach out for an appointment. These resources help bridge the gap between motivation and action.

Clinic admins or case managers can also create custom referral lists to facilitate a warm handoff.
Staff can build tailored lists for individual students or specific needs, helping referrals feel as personal and supported as those made through long-standing community relationships.

Helping Counseling Centers Do More with Less

Counseling centers continue to face the same challenge: increasing demand, complex student needs, and limited budgets. Building a strong off-campus referral network helps staff connect students to care efficiently while maintaining a focus on quality and fit.

With ThrivingCampus, schools can maintain a current, searchable directory of community-based and telehealth providers who work well with college students. Staff can share lists, manage referrals, and track preferred providers, all in one place.

Counseling teams can note which therapists work especially well with specific student communities or address certain presenting concerns, or those who have established long-standing partnerships with the counseling center. Provider details and availability stay current, saving time for both staff and students.

Part of a Connected Ecosystem

For most institutions, technology works best when it complements existing systems. Many colleges use platforms like Medicat to manage health and counseling workflows. ThrivingCampus fits alongside those systems by extending support beyond campus and helping students connect with verified, independent providers in their communities.

Staff can export a referral or PDF summary from ThrivingCampus to store in Medicat, ensuring continuity of care and better recordkeeping. Together, these tools streamline operations, reduce friction for students, and strengthen outcomes.

Key Takeaways

The most effective campus mental health strategies combine community, technology, and collaboration.

ThrivingCampus helps counseling centers extend their reach beyond campus walls by connecting students with trusted, independent therapists who understand both the local community and the needs of college students. Students and schools everywhere can also use ThrivingCampus.com to search for providers directly, supporting care access far beyond partner campuses.

Together, tools like Medicat and ThrivingCampus create a connected, student-centered ecosystem that makes it easier for staff to support students wherever they seek care.

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AI Ambient Listening

How Ambient Listening Tools Help Campus Providers Save Time

Written by Medicat on . Posted in Industry Articles.

Less Typing, More Listening

As college health and counseling teams face growing demand and not having enough time, new technology is helping providers focus more on students and less on screens. For health appointments, you have 20 minutes allotted for each visit. That’s 20 minutes to listen, diagnose, connect, and somehow document everything.

Counseling teams feel a similar squeeze. A session may be scheduled for 60 minutes, but that hour has to cover building rapport, working through concerns, and documenting progress. In reality, it often becomes 40 minutes of conversation and 20 minutes of paperwork—time that could be better spent supporting students.

So, you’re probably typing while talking, or staying late to finish notes after hours (maybe while eating lunch at your desk… again). But what if you could spend that time actually connecting with students — or finally make it to that 6 p.m. workout you’ve been missing?

There’s a better way to handle documentation — one that works quietly in the background while you focus on care. Let’s look at how ambient listening works and how it’s transforming the provider and student experience.

What Is an Ambient Listening Tool?

Think of ambient listening as your real-time documentation partner that seamlessly integrates with your EHR, like Medicat.

Using secure, permission-based AI, the tool “listens” to the natural conversation between a provider and a student during an appointment. As you focus on the student, it transcribes and structures the conversation in the background, automatically updating the clinical note in your EHR.

By the end of the session, your documentation is already organized and ready for quick review, edits, and sign-off — no extra typing, toggling, or note reconstruction required. You stay fully engaged in care; the ambient listener keeps your chart up to date, complete, and compliant.

How Does Ambient Listening Work?

Behind the scenes, ambient listening uses secure, AI-powered technology to simplify the documentation process from start to finish.

Here’s the play-by-play:

  1. Secure Audio Capture: With the student’s consent, the conversation is recorded through the ambient listening tool.
  2. Real-Time Transcription: Speech recognition technology converts spoken dialogue into accurate text as the visit unfolds.
  3. Smart Summarization: AI identifies key details — like symptoms, assessments, and recommendations — and formats them into a clear, structured draft note.
  4. Personalized Accuracy: The system learns your voice patterns over time, distinguishing you from other students in the room for even greater precision.
  5. Quick Review and Sign-Off: At the end of the visit, review, make any necessary edits, and finalize your note. Documentation is completed before you leave the room.

It’s like having a trusted scribe working quietly in the background, so that you can stay focused on care, not the keyboard!

Why Providers Love It

Ambient listening isn’t just about saving time — it’s about giving time back.

  • More Connection, Less Distraction: Look up, listen deeply, and build trust without your keyboard stealing the spotlight.
  • Fewer After-Hours Notes: Leave the office on time, without a growing queue of unfinished notes.
  • More Accurate Documentation: Notes are generated in real-time, capturing details you might forget later.
  • Better Work-Life Balance: Enjoy that lunch break, take that yoga class, or just… rest.

With less time spent typing and more time spent connecting, care starts to feel personal again.

How It Fits Into Your Workflow

Here’s the best part: you don’t have to change how you work to benefit from it.

Ambient listening integrates directly with your existing EHR, fitting naturally into the appointments you already manage every day. Whether you’re a campus health provider documenting a student’s sore throat or a counselor capturing insights from a therapy session, the process feels familiar, just smoother and faster.

Your notes are drafted automatically, formatted for compliance, and ready for quick review before you move on to the next student. Less clicking. Less catching up. More time for meaningful care.

Privacy and Compliance You Can Count On

Privacy isn’t optional; it’s essential. The technology integrated within Medicat is built to keep student information safe, secure, and confidential.

End-to-End Encryption: Every word is encrypted from the moment it’s captured to the moment it’s stored, keeping conversations protected behind multiple layers of security.

  • Controlled Access: Only authorized users within your EHR can view or manage the transcribed notes; no outsiders, no exceptions.
  • Provider Control: You decide what gets saved, edited, or deleted before anything becomes part of the student’s record.
  • HIPAA Compliance: The solution integrated within Medicat meets the highest standards for protecting health and education data.

Key Takeaways

Ambient listening helps providers stay focused on students while keeping documentation accurate and effortless. It saves time, reduces after-hours work, and supports stronger connections during each visit. Built with privacy and security at its core, the ambient listening technology integrated within Medicat meets the highest standards for protecting student health information.

As Medicat continues to expand its AI capabilities, every feature is designed to enhance care while keeping clinicians in control. When technology supports you behind the scenes, you can focus on what matters most… your students.

Explore Medicat’s campus health and counseling solutions or schedule a quick demo to see how we’re helping providers save time and strengthen student care.

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Medicat One Counseling Reports

Essential EHR Reports for Better Clinic Operations

Written by Medicat on . Posted in Industry Articles.

Originally published on May 15, 2024. Updated October 22, 2025

Picture this: your VP of Student Affairs just asked for a report on student appointment reasons, and you’re bracing yourself for an all-nighter spent clicking through spreadsheets. But what if you could pull the exact report you need in minutes—without the caffeine IV drip? That’s the magic of a well-equipped EHR.

Data isn’t just numbers on a page. It’s one of the most powerful tools campus health and counseling leaders have to guide decisions. When harnessed effectively, reporting can reveal trends, spotlight areas for improvement, and even support more equitable access to care.

With MedicatOne’s reporting tools, staff and administrators get instant visibility into the metrics that matter most. For instance, MedicatOne reporting allows you to easily track diagnosis numbers, counseling session outcomes, or caseload counts.

In this blog, we’ll walk through some of the most valuable reports in MedicatOne, explore practical use cases for health and counseling services, and show why data-driven insights are game-changers for campus leaders.

To take a tour of our reporting tool, click “Get Started” below:

High Impact Reports in MedicatOne

Data overload? Not here. MedicatOne makes reporting feel less like digging through a filing cabinet and more like opening a well-organized toolbox. Reports are grouped into intuitive categories—Calendar, Charting, and Financials—so staff can find them quickly and easily.

This setup keeps teams efficient, shortens the learning curve for new users, and ensures the insights you uncover actually move the needle. Let’s look at some examples:

Appointment Statistics Report

The Appointment Statistics Report goes beyond tracking attendance. It gives a clear view of how appointments are being used across your clinics. It breaks down appointment volume by status (attended, canceled, rescheduled, not seen), reason codes, and total hours, helping you understand utilization at a glance. 

  • For counseling centers: Directors can identify trends. For example, rising cancellation rates during midterms, and use that insight to adjust scheduling or outreach efforts.
  • For health clinics: Leaders can view appointment activity by clinic or provider. This helps monitor workload, optimize staffing, and support balanced care delivery. 

By turning appointment data into actionable insight, the Appointment Statistics Report helps teams strengthen access, efficiency, and the overall student experience. 

Appointment statistics Medicat One

Open Notes by Provider Report

Nobody loves chasing down unfinished paperwork. With this report, you don’t have to! The Open Notes by Providers report tracks documentation status across your team, showing which notes are In Progress, Locked, or flagged as Invalid.

  • For counseling leaders: It’s an easy way to keep tabs on backlogs before the end of the month sneaks up.
  • For medical directors: Spot recurring issues in invalid notes and turn them into targeted training opportunities instead of recurring headaches.

Surfacing problems early, this report keeps your clinic organized and compliant.

Open notes by provider report screenshot in m1

Supervision and Training Report

Managing interns and staff training doesn’t have to mean juggling Excel sheets or paper clipboards. The Supervision & Training Dashboard gives counseling center leaders a clear snapshot of how time is spent. Get a clear understanding of how interns are doing individual counseling sessions, intakes, couples counseling, or even outreach. Plus, you can track rescheduled and cancelled appointments, too.

For supervisors, this means that it’s easy to confirm interns are hitting their training requirements without chasing down spreadsheets or sticky notes. The result? Training stays on track, service delivery stays student-focused, and accreditation standards get met without the scramble.

Here’s an example of what this report can look like when it is filtered to show the appointment activity of a particular trainee over a 90-day period:

Supervision Training Report in M1

Additional Reports in MedicatOne

The reports we’ve covered so far are just the beginning. MedicatOne offers a full suite of reporting options that give campuses even deeper insight into how services are used—and where they can grow. A few highlights:

  • Staff Appointment Reports: This report allows you to track how many hours staff spend outside of clinical appointments. This report can also be helpful for counseling clinics tracking meetings between trainees and supervisors during the supervision process.
  • Outreach Reports: Measure the real impact of campus engagement efforts, from wellness fairs to outreach campaigns, so you know what’s resonating with students.
  • Referral Reports: Break down referral patterns by provider and referral type, helping clinics understand where students are being directed and whether referral processes are working as intended.

Together, these reports paint a clearer picture of how counseling and health services are utilized across campus. They’re especially powerful for end-of-year reviews, offering data-driven insights into mental health trends, service effectiveness, and opportunities for improvement.

Key Takeaways

MedicatOne’s built-in reporting features deliver actionable insights, giving campus leaders a clear, data-driven view of both operations and student care.

Leveraging a robust EHR with intuitive reporting features allows clinic directors to make more informed decisions that directly improve student wellness outcomes and strengthen the overall campus health ecosystem.

Ready to see how MedicatOne reporting can transform your operations? Schedule a demo today.

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Smarter Medical Billing Efficiency

5 Strategies for Faster, Smarter Medical Billing Efficiency

Written by Medicat on . Posted in Industry Articles.

Key Findings and Their Impact on College Mental Health

Managing billing in a campus health or counseling center can get overwhelming…fast. From insurance verification to claim submissions to patient billing, paperwork has a way of quietly eating up hours your team could spend with students. But with the right tools and strategies in place, campus wellness leaders can significantly improve billing efficiency and reduce headaches for both staff and students.

1. Streamline Billing Workflows with Integrated Tools

Billing processes often require staff to move between multiple platforms, which increases the chances of error and lost time. Utilizing built-in billing features can help centralize workflows by showing:

  • Billing History: Located directly in the student chart in MedicatOne, this feature makes it easy to track past tickets and add new ones without switching systems.
  • Ticket Screens: Allows staff to create, review, and correct billing tickets in one place, improving billing efficiency and accuracy.

2. Optimize Claims Management

Furthermore, Medicat provides the documentation and preparation tools needed to work with third-party billing vendors.

Here’s what’s included:

  • Ticket Management: Accurately completed tickets form the foundation for smooth claims processing.
  • Third-Party Vendor Support: Vendors like Waystar and Availity allow you to transmit all claims electronically. If an insurance company doesn’t accept electronic claims, the vendor will forward them on your behalf.

Tip: Establish clear processes for reviewing claims for accuracy before they leave Medicat and before resubmitting them through your billing vendor.

3. Ensure Accuracy with Insurance Data

Accurate insurance data reduces errors and delays in billing. For instance, ensure your EHR allows staff to quickly view, update, and verify student insurance details within the system.

4. Integrate Flawlessly to Collect Student Payments

Transparency and accuracy in student billing builds trust and supports timely payments. Your EHR should make it simple for staff to maintain accurate financial records and share that information with relevant departments on campus so that they can collect payment for services rendered.

5. Use Reporting to Drive Financial Insights

Billing efficiency isn’t just about faster processing—it’s about understanding where inefficiencies occur and improving them.

For example, MedicatOne reports give clinics the ability to track billing performance and identify opportunities for optimization. This includes:

  • Billing Reports: Standard reports that track key indicators of billing health, such as claim denials, rejected charges, and low reimbursement rates from payors or providers.
  • Custom Reports: Flexible options that allow staff to drill down into the data that matters most to your clinic, including which billing codes are used most frequently.

Tip: Review reports regularly with both clinical and administrative staff. This fosters collaboration and ensures billing aligns with broader student health goals.

Key Takeaways

When campus health and counseling centers simplify billing processes, they reduce staff burnout, improve claim turnaround, and ultimately reinvest more time into student care.

Leveraging Medicat’s billing history, ticket management, insurance data tools, and reporting features can transform the way your clinic operates, allowing staff to keep their focus where it belongs—on student wellness.

For more insights on operational efficiency, check out our blog on time-saving EHR features.

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Clinical Documentation

How Voice Dictation Speeds Up Clinical Documentation for Campus Providers

Written by Medicat on . Posted in Industry Articles.

How Voice Dictation Speeds Up Clinical Documentation for Campus Providers

Webinar Highlights: Q&A with University of Illinois Providers Katerina Rosenbeck, Nurse Practitioner, and Kaley Hennigh, Mental Health Care Manager.

Paperwork shouldn’t take longer than patient care. Yet for many college health and counseling providers, clinical documentation consumes precious hours each week—time that could be spent directly with students.

To solve this challenge, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s McKinley Health Center began using a new voice dictation tool called FluencyDirect that integrates with Medicat’s EHR.

For providers Kate and Kaley, the change has been transformative, giving them more time for students and less time tied to documentation. Continue reading to learn from their experience.

Documentation poll

Q1: Before using voice dictation, how were you documenting patient visits?

Kate: Honestly, it was mostly manual typing. That was just my default; sitting down after a session and typing everything out. I’d use templates sometimes to save time, but even with those, I felt glued to the keyboard.

Kaley: Same here. Typing was just the norm, but it wasn’t practical for mental health notes. Some of my cases are very detailed, so it could easily take me more than 15 minutes to finish a single note.

Most providers still rely on manual typing for documentation, according to our webinar poll.

Q2: After adopting voice dictation, what kind of difference did you notice in your workflow?

 Kate: The dictation tool sped up everything. Instead of clicking through boxes or typing endlessly, I can just say what I need and it gets entered. I was pleasantly surprised at how accurate it is, even with background noise. It also recognizes different accents, which is a big plus on a diverse campus like ours. For me, it cut my charting time dramatically and made the whole process feel less like a burden.

Kaley: It took a little practice at first, like any new tool, but once I got used to it, my note-taking time dropped by more than half. What used to take me 15+ minutes, I can now finish in under 5. Even for complex cases or crises, I can usually complete notes in 5 to 10 minutes.

Q3: What about working in shared spaces — does background noise interfere?

Kate: I work in a bullpen-style setup with two providers and it’s not an issue. The speech mic filters out conversations or background interruptions. Even if a nurse comes in to let me know a patient is ready, it doesn’t pick that up.

Kaley: I have my own office, so it’s quieter, but I still use the handheld mic with a stand. I just move it closer if needed. The nice part is you can control when it’s on or off, so you’re not accidentally recording things you don’t want to.

Q4: Dictation vs. Ambient Listening: What’s the Difference?

  • Dictation tools like FluencyDirect transcribe your clinical notes as you dictate them out-loud, with commands for punctuation and formatting.
  • Ambient listening tools record the entire encounter in real time (with patient consent), then auto-generate the clinical note.

Kate: I haven’t used ambient listening, but I can see the appeal. It could remove the need for saying things like ‘new paragraph’ or formatting manually. My one concern would be how it captures extra information. Students often bring up unrelated issues during a visit — like sore throat first, then suddenly knee pain. I wouldn’t want AI pulling in everything unless I decide it’s relevant to chart.

Kaley: From a mental health perspective, my concern is student trust. Some of our students — especially international students — are already cautious about platforms like Zoom because they fear being recorded. So having an AI listening tool could feel uncomfortable for them. Ultimately, I think it’s about finding the right balance and being transparent with students.

Q5: How does voice dictation fit into your daily schedules?

McKinley Health Center builds documentation time into each day—15 minutes per hour for medical providers and two 30-minute blocks for mental health staff.

Kate: I like to chart right after each patient while it’s still fresh. With dictation, those five minutes are enough, so I’m finished before the day ends.

Kaley: In our department, we have 30-minute morning and afternoon charting blocks. You can always tell who uses dictation. Their notes are wrapped up during that time, and their task lists are much shorter.

Q6: Beyond patient notes, do you use dictation for anything else?

Kate: Yes! I’ve also found it helpful for emails, letters, and project work. Basically, anywhere I’d be typing a lot, I use dictation.

Kaley: If I’m writing a letter for a student or drafting something longer in Word, I’ll use it. Once you get used to it, you realize how much time it saves beyond clinical charting.

Key Takeaways

Voice dictation has helped providers at McKinley Health Center reclaim valuable time, reduce documentation stress, and improve efficiency without compromising accuracy.

For both medical and mental health providers, it’s not just about saving time— it’s about creating space to focus on what matters most: student care.

Interested in hearing the full conversation? Watch the full webinar replay.

To get more information on how your team can implement this new tool, request a demo.

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EHR Features

7 EHR Features Clinic Leaders Love

Written by Medicat on . Posted in Industry Articles.

College health and counseling centers have a tough job: meet the complex needs of today’s students while keeping operations smooth, compliant, and efficient. The right electronic health record (EHR) system can make that job much easier — and certain features consistently stand out as game changers for campus staff.

So let’s dive into the seven EHR features that win the most love from our campus clients.

1. Automated Immunization Tools

Verifying student immunization records can be one of the most time-consuming tasks for campus health teams — especially when those records come from multiple states or healthcare providers.

With VeriVax, universities can automatically verify over 90% of student immunizations for both in-state and out-of-state students.

How it works:

  1. Students request vaccine history within VeriVax from the state(s) where they received immunizations.
  2. They receive a secure, digital version of their official immunization record.
  3. Records flow directly into Medicat’s Immunization Compliance Management system for tracking and reporting.
  4. Compliance is verified automatically — no manual review.
  5. Noncompliant records are flagged for quick follow-up.

Instead of spending 20 minutes reviewing a single student’s paperwork, a nurse can see compliance status instantly. Multiply that across hundreds of students, and the hours — and headaches saved — are immense.

MedicatOne Dashboard

2. Dashboards That Go Beyond the Basics

MedicatOne dashboards are more than static displays — they’re active command centers for student care, providing quick access to critical information:

  • Customizable Alerts: Flag important details (e.g., medical conditions, billing reminders, cancellation policies) with start/end dates, visibility controls, and auto-dismiss or manual removal settings.
  • Risk History: View a student’s historical risk levels — academic, homicidal ideation, or suicidal ideation — with customizable categories and color codes.
  • Consolidated Attachments: See all files linked to a student’s chart in one place.
  • Hospitalization Tracking: Record admission/discharge dates, visit reasons, and status, with the option to hide details until clicked.

By consolidating insights, dashboards help staff make faster, better-informed decisions with minimal searching.

MedicatOne Risk Management

3. Centralized Risk Management

Quick access to accurate risk information can be life-saving. The Risk Management Tab stores all historical and current risk data — including notes, dates, and any changes over time.

Risks can be categorized as:

  • Academic
  • Homicidal Ideation
  • Suicidal Ideation

With default levels of:

  • Low
  • Moderate
  • High

Custom categories and color-coding allow for even more precision — for example, “Low – no intent, no plan, no history.”

Suppose a drop-in student presents to a counselor who’s never met them. In that case, the counselor can instantly see that two weeks ago they were assessed at “Moderate – suicidal ideation with prior history,” along with notes from that assessment — helping prioritize safety and coordinate follow-up.

4. A Modern, Intuitive Interface

In a busy campus setting, technology should speed up care, not slow it down. The MedicatOne (M1) interface is designed to be clean, organized, and easy to navigate, so staff can find what they need without unnecessary clicks.

A modern design isn’t just about aesthetics. It shortens onboarding time, reduces errors, and frees providers to focus on students.

Instead of toggling between multiple screens to locate a student’s notes, immunization status, and care plan, providers can access everything in just a few clicks, ensuring smoother appointments and better continuity of care.

MedicatOne Appointments

5. Appointment Lists at a Glance

Not every provider prefers a traditional calendar. The Appointments Tab offers a simple, scrollable list of upcoming appointments for the day, week, or month.

For example, a counselor can start their day by scanning the list, spotting that their third appointment is a follow-up risk assessment, and reviewing the student’s chart beforehand — saving time and preventing missed details.

6. Supervision & Training Tracking

Managing interns and trainees takes more than tracking hours — it’s about supporting development and staying organized. MedicatOne’s Supervision & Training module includes:

  • Supervisor Dashboard: A live snapshot of supervisee tasks, assigned clients, and open notes.
  • Training Dashboard: Track hours, store contracts and consents, and document supervision meetings.
  • Granular Permissions: Give appropriate access to additional supervisors while keeping sensitive records protected.
  • Feedback & Sign-Offs: Route notes for supervisor review and approval to streamline oversight.

These tools help supervisors stay connected to supervise progress while maintaining complete, compliant records.

7. Granular Permissions for Better Privacy

With granular permissions, administrators can control exactly who can view, edit, or share certain data.

A nurse might have access to a student’s immunization records but not counseling notes, while a counseling intern can see only their assigned clients. This precision supports HIPAA, FERPA, and internal policies while ensuring staff have the access they need — and nothing more.

Key Takeaways

Each of these features speaks of a shared priority: more time with students, less time wrestling with technology. From automated immunization compliance to risk management and supervision tools, MedicatOne helps campus health and counseling teams work more efficiently, stay compliant, and deliver better care.

Interested in learning more? Explore our Product Gallery to see some of these tools in action!

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College Health Clinic Efficiency

3 Key Features to Save Time and Improve Care in Your College Health Clinic

Written by Medicat on . Posted in Industry Articles.

Key Findings and Their Impact on College Mental Health

You became a campus healthcare provider to heal, counsel, and support students through their most vulnerable moments. Instead, you’re drowning in documentation, clicking through endless screens, and racing against the clock to squeeze in actual patient care between administrative tasks.

You’re not alone, and you’re not imagining the burden. Research reveals that primary care physicians spend nearly 50% of their time buried in EHR systems and paperwork—almost double the 27% they spend caring for patients.

That imbalance takes a toll—not just on clinicians, but on overall clinic performance. But with the right tools in place, it’s possible to reclaim that time and refocus on student care.

In this article, we highlight three powerful features that can dramatically reduce admin time and help your staff refocus on what matters most: your students.

1. Smart Calendar Syncing for Seamless Scheduling

Juggling schedules between providers, counselors, and especially departments can be a logistical headache. Double-bookings, miscommunications, and the need to check multiple platforms (email, personal calendars, sticky notes) can significantly slow down the process.

With smart calendar syncing, providers can integrate their EHR with existing tools, like Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, or Apple Calendar.

Benefits of utilizing calendar syncing:

  • Instant reflection of schedule changes across platforms
  • Elimination of overbooking, no-show risks, and human error
  • Streamlined cross-team coordination without the back-and-forth

For campus health clinics that offer both medical and behavioral health services, calendar syncing also helps align staff across departments while maintaining the appropriate boundaries and permissions for privacy and access.

2. Built-In Dictation to Speed Up Documentation

Documentation is a vital part of every student encounter, but it doesn’t have to lead to working overtime. Manually typing SOAP notes or intake summaries eats up provider time that could be spent directly with students.

That’s where built-in dictation tools come in. Modern voice recognition tools allows providers to speak notes in real-time.

These tools can:

  • Accurately transcribe spoken words into structured notes
  • Cut down on redundant typing, formatting, and late-night charting
  • Improve a provider’s ability to focus on the patient

In fact, one study found that providers using speech recognition software completed documentation in just over 5 minutes per form—nearly cutting their time in half compared to manual typing.

And for multitasking providers who split time between appointments, monthly clinics, and drop-in visits, that time saved is invaluable.

P.S. Schedule time with our team to see our new dictation tool in action!

3. Streamline Intake & Care with Smart Automations

Let’s face it: no one enjoys handing out clipboards, scanning PDFs, or calling no-show students. And yet, these administrative tasks take up large portions of staff time every day.

However, with a modern EHR system, clinics can leverage digital intake forms and automated appointment reminders to take the manual work off your plate.

Look for these key features when selecting an EHR:

  • Customizable pre-visit forms sent automatically via email or secure message
  • Digital signature capture for consent and compliance documentation
  • Automated appointment reminders that cut down on no-shows and late arrivals can be sent via email, secure message, or SMS

With automation in place, the connection between communication and care becomes faster, clearer, and more reliable.

Key Takeaways

Choosing an EHR with time-saving tools like calendar syncing, voice dictation, and digital forms can transform your clinic’s daily operations. These features reduce burnout, streamline care delivery, and free up your team to focus on what matters most.

Want to see how Medicat’s campus EHR helps clinics like yours save hours each week? Schedule a demo with our team

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Boarding Schools

How 4 Boarding Schools Are Rethinking Wellness

Written by Medicat on . Posted in Industry Articles.

How 4 Boarding Schools Are Rethinking Wellness With Medicat

The residential nature of boarding school life presents both unique opportunities and challenges for student wellness. Unlike day schools, these institutions are responsible for supporting students academically, socially, and emotionally within a 24/7 community environment.

To meet these evolving needs, many boarding schools are reimagining wellness from the ground up. Through peer-led support networks, DBT skills groups, and structured life skills programs, they are creating flexible systems of care that reflect the realities of residential life.

In this article, we spotlight four schools that are transforming student wellness and setting a new standard for comprehensive support in boarding communities.

Berkshire School

1. Berkshire School – Developmental Wellness & Peer Leadership

Berkshire School models what it means to take a whole-student approach, embedding wellness into every aspect of the four-year student experience. Their Wellness and Growth Program deliberately develops traits like character, inclusion, and resilience across four years of education.

Through intentional workshops, classroom curricula, and insightful speakers, students gain science-based tools to help them flourish both academically and personally.

Moreover, their counseling services are highly accessible. The school’s licensed clinicians are readily available, and students are introduced to these resources during orientation and campus-wide events.

Additionally, the school champions peer-led initiatives through its Peer Listeners program. These student leaders, trained in active listening and crisis response, host campus-wide events and foster a culture of openness, greatly reducing stigma and encouraging mental health awareness.

Berkshire also incorporates relevant wellness media into its programming, including films and documentaries on topics like substance abuse (“Tough Guise”), gender identity (“The Mask You Live In”), and mental health (“Screenagers”). This strategy helps normalize critical conversations and equips students with coping skills for real-world challenges.

George School

2. George School – True 24/7 Care & Community Support

Furthermore, George School also takes a fully integrated approach to student wellness. The Student Health and Wellness Center (SHWC) offers a 24/7 staffed facility complete with exam rooms, isolation spaces, and private counseling suites. With registered nurses available around the clock and mental health professionals on call, students have access to comprehensive care whenever they need it.

Additionally, George School partners with reputable organizations like the Jed Foundation for suicide prevention and the Caron Foundation Educational Alliance for substance-use programming. These collaborations reinforce the school’s commitment to evidence-based care, which is especially vital in the boarding context where student needs are often continuous.

George also prioritizes community wellness through engaging events, such as their “Spring into Wellness” Book Fair and mindfulness activations like DIY glitter jars and bibliotherapy. These thoughtful initiatives provide low-pressure ways for students to connect, de-stress, and learn self-care techniques.

Hebron Academy

3. Hebron Academy – Whole-Student, Embedded Wellness

At Hebron Academy, wellness is intentional and interwoven. From orientation onwards, students encounter programming that spans everything from nutrition and sleep hygiene to LGBTQIA+ awareness and healthy relationships.

Weekly meditation and yoga sessions are available to both students and faculty, promoting well-being across the campus community.

Supporting these wellness efforts is a dedicated team and network of services, including:

  • A full-time on-campus mental health clinician
  • A child & adolescent psychiatric nurse practitioner
  • Weekly yoga and meditation sessions for students and faculty
  • DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) skills groups

The Student Support Team, which meets weekly, coordinates care plans involving faculty, counselors, and nursing staff—ensuring comprehensive, individualized support for each student.

Wellness is woven into nearly every facet of campus life, from athletics to advisory meetings, reinforcing healthy habits holistically and consistently. This is especially effective in residential environments, where wellness must be accessible and visible at all times.

Hotchkiss School

4. Hotchkiss School – Comprehensive Safety & Life-Skills Framework

The Hotchkiss School exemplifies how boarding schools can create comprehensive wellness environments through systematic programming, extensive training, and clear policies that prioritize student safety and development.

Furthermore, Hotchkiss’s Human Development (HD) program delivers weekly, age-appropriate lessons that evolve over time:

  • 9th grade: Transition support and social-emotional learning
  • 10th grade: Identity development, emotional health, and interpersonal skills
  • Upperclassmen: College preparedness and advanced life skills

Moreover, Hotchkiss focuses heavily on training. Faculty, proctors, and staff receive guided instruction on healthy relationships, consent, bystander intervention, and gender identity.

Weekly “consent talks” led by professional staff demystify policy frameworks and empower students to advocate for their well‑being. Such training and programming cultivate a campus culture where safety, respect, and mental health literacy flourish.

Curious how Hotchkiss is using tech to strengthen student care? Check out the webinar recap featuring their Director of Health Services and our new eMAR in action.

Key Takeaways

These innovative wellness programs highlight what works in residential school communities:

  • Peer support matters. When students are empowered with the right training, it fosters a lasting culture of openness and collaboration.
  • Consistency is key. A mix of daily, weekly, and monthly wellness touchpoints meet students’ diverse needs and schedules.
  • Clear structure builds safety. Policies and training empower students to seek help and trust the system.
  • Support should evolve. Age-appropriate programming ensures relevance as students grow.

As boarding schools continue to evolve their wellness approaches, these programs demonstrate that comprehensive student support requires intentional community building, consistent programming, and keen attention to both individual and collective well-being.

Continue Reading: Learn how schools like yours are using EHRs to deliver smarter, more responsive care.

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Campus Health Clinic

Is Your Campus Health Clinic Ready to Serve Faculty and Staff?

Written by Medicat on . Posted in Industry Articles.

Key Considerations by College Size

As colleges place more focus on whole-campus well-being and talent retention, many are asking: Should our health center also serve faculty and staff?

Extending care beyond the student population can strengthen community health, build campus cohesion, and boost the visibility of your clinic. But it’s not a simple decision. From credentialing to capacity, there are important operational, legal, and financial factors to weigh.

Let’s walk through:

  • Key questions to ask before expanding services
  • The benefits and drawbacks of serving faculty/staff
  • How your college’s size and structure can impact the decision
  • Alternative models that allow for flexibility without overextending

Key Questions to Ask Before Expanding Services

Assessing Your Campus Clinic’s Current Capacity

Before expanding services to include faculty and staff, it’s important to evaluate your current operations.

  • Are your exam rooms consistently in use?
  • Do you have sufficient providers to support additional visits without affecting student access?
  • Could extending hours into the evenings or weekends increase flexibility?

Understanding your capacity for space, staffing, and scheduling will help you determine whether expansion is realistic and sustainable.

Credentialing To Bill Employee Health Insurance Plans

Unlike student health services, which often operate under different billing models, providing care to employees typically requires credentialing with commercial insurance plans.

If your clinic isn’t already set up to accept a range of health plans, you may need to:

  • Establish payer contracts
  • Train staff on new billing workflows
  • Implement claims processing systems

These changes can be complex, but they are essential for reimbursement and the financial well-being of your clinic long-term.

Recognizing Existing Informal Care Patterns

Are faculty or staff already asking your providers for quick advice or informal care?
This may indicate both a need and an opportunity. Formalizing those services:

  • Helps clarify provider roles and liability
  • Enhances continuity of care
  • Builds trust in a more structured employee wellness offering

Aligning with Existing Employee Health Programs

If your institution already has an Employee Health or Occupational Health department, take time to assess how your clinic could complement, rather than compete with, those services.

Look for opportunities to:

A strong partnership can enhance the well-being of your entire campus community.

Top Benefits of Offering Faculty and Staff Care

Promotes Campus-Wide Well-Being for Faculty and Staff

When your institution offers healthcare to faculty and staff through on-campus clinics, it demonstrates a strong commitment to holistic wellness. Employees feel supported—and wellness becomes a shared institutional value.

This approach also reinforces existing well-being efforts, such as:

  • Employee wellness programs
  • Campus mental health initiatives
  • Preventive care campaigns

Strengthens Interdepartmental Relationships

Serving faculty and staff creates more natural engagement between the health clinic and other departments. These touchpoints foster:

  • Increased communication across campus
  • More frequent and effective referrals
  • Greater collaboration and buy-in for student health initiatives

By being part of the care ecosystem for all campus members, your clinic becomes a central resource for students and the wider campus community.

Supports Expansion of Services and Staffing

Extending services to employees can help justify:

  • Hiring additional clinical staff
  • Investing in new equipment or telehealth platforms
  • Expanding evening or weekend hours

Demand growing beyond the student population may provide the data and use cases needed to advocate for clinic growth.

Enhances Public Health Efforts on Campus

Faculty and staff are an ideal audience for preventive health programs. Expanding services to employees allows clinics to:

  • Promote flu or COVID-19 vaccination clinics
  • Offer health screenings like blood pressure or cholesterol checks
  • Increase participation in seasonal wellness initiatives

Offers Continuity of Care in a Familiar Setting

For many employees—especially those working closely with students—an on-campus clinic is already a trusted space. By formalizing services for faculty and staff:

  • Care becomes more accessible and less intimidating
  • Earlier intervention is more likely
  • Clinical relationships are strengthened across the board

Challenges to Address Before Expanding

Navigating Insurance Billing Complexities

Unlike student health plans, employee benefits often span multiple networks with varying reimbursement rules. To successfully bill for faculty and staff visits, clinics may need to:

  • Contract with new insurance payers
  • Adapt claims processing workflows
  • Train billing staff on commercial insurance codes and timelines

Without these systems in place, clinics risk delays, denied claims, and administrative strain.

Understanding FERPA and HIPAA Compliance Differences

Student health information is protected under FERPA, while employee health records fall under HIPAA. For clinics serving both populations, this distinction can create compliance risks.

To stay aligned with privacy laws, your clinic will need:

  • Clear protocols for managing records
  • Staff training on confidentiality differences
  • Policies to prevent data mishandling across groups

Assessing Current Clinic Capacity

Before expanding, take a close look at how your clinic is functioning today:

  • Are exam rooms regularly booked?
  • Is your staff stretched thin?
  • Are appointment wait times increasing?

If resources are already tight, serving more patients—however well-intentioned—could affect student access and satisfaction. Consider phased growth or infrastructure upgrades first.

Addressing Credentialing and Liability Requirements

Expanding your scope of care often means navigating new provider requirements. Depending on your clinic’s setup, this could include:

  • Obtaining additional state or payer credentials
  • Adjusting malpractice coverage
  • Ensuring privileges align with expanded duties

These details are essential for compliance, provider protection, and the long-term sustainability of new services.

Tailoring Your Strategy by Campus Size

Small Colleges

Pros:
Smaller campuses often have streamlined communication and a tight-knit community. This environment can make faculty and staff more comfortable seeking care through an on-campus clinic.
Cons:
With limited staff and exam room space, small clinics may struggle to scale services. Without the economies of scale of larger institutions, sustaining faculty and staff care year-round may not be feasible.

Large Universities

Pros:
Larger institutions typically have bigger budgets, more facility space, and existing healthcare infrastructure. Thus, this makes it easier to dedicate specific staff or resources to employee care.
Cons:
Coordinating with HR, compliance teams, and other departments can be more complex. Securing buy-in may require aligning across multiple stakeholders and navigating institutional bureaucracy.

Community Colleges

Pros:
Offering services to faculty and staff at community colleges can help reduce health disparities—particularly in rural or underserved regions with limited provider access.
Cons:
Many community colleges don’t yet have formal health centers, making implementation more logistically challenging. Starting small with limited services or partnerships may be the most realistic path forward.

Flexible Models That Support Faculty and Staff Without Overextending

Seasonal or Event-Based Services

Provide targeted offerings such as flu shot clinics, biometric screenings, or health fairs during specific times of year.

This approach:

  • Keeps staffing needs minimal
  • Helps gauge interest from faculty and staff
  • Supports public health initiatives without overextending resources

Referral and Navigation Support

Rather than becoming a full-service care provider for employees, your clinic can offer:

This model builds trust while allowing your clinic to remain student-focused.

Designated Hours or Staff for Employee Care

If your clinic decides to offer year-round care to employees, consider separating visits by:

  • Designating specific appointment blocks for faculty/staff
  • Assigning certain providers to handle employee care

This preserves student access while ensuring employees receive care respectfully and organizationally.

Key Takeaways

There’s no universal model for expanding college health clinics to serve faculty and staff. But with thoughtful planning and a scalable approach, it’s possible to enhance campus wellness, strengthen institutional culture, and extend the reach of your clinic.

Start by asking the right questions about capacity, policy, and demand. Pilot small programs, gather feedback, and scale gradually to ensure success.

Take the next step in your clinic’s growth: Read our guide on optimizing your college health billing processes.

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Student Health Texts

Text Your Way to Better Student Health Engagement

Written by Medicat on . Posted in Industry Articles.

How Mobile Messaging Improves Access, Reduces No-Shows and Supports Student Well-Being

The Reaching students with timely, actionable information is more than convenient. It’s a necessity. Today’s students live on their phones, and communication methods that meet them where they are can transform how college health centers deliver care.

Texting has emerged as a powerful tool to engage students in their wellness journey, starting before they even walk through the door.

Why Should You Text Students?

Let’s be honest. Email is often ignored, voicemails go unreturned, and paper reminders? Forget it.

Students have made it clear they consistently prioritize emails related to their coursework and known senders, while mass messages are frequently overlooked.

That’s exactly why texting is so effective. It’s direct, personal, and more likely to reach students where they are.

Here’s why texting works:

  • Students are much more likely to read and respond to texts than email
  • Messages are short, easy to digest, and require minimal staff time to send
  • Helps make important info easy to understand and act on

More than speed, texting makes communication clear and convenient for both students and staff.

How Texting Enhances the Student Health Experience

Whether it’s a routine appointment reminder or an immunization compliance message, texting can improve the student experience and reduce no-shows. Think of it as the new front door to your clinic (one that opens right from their phones!)

Additionally, with 54% of students saying they don’t always read emails from their university or academic departments, it’s clear that relying solely on email can leave students out of the loop.

Texting bridges that gap with timely, direct communication they’re more likely to see and act on.

Popular texting use cases:

  • Confirmations, reminders, and cancellations for appointments
  • Immunization compliance status updates and reminders
  • Post-visit surveys or care instructions
  • Outreach around events, vaccine clinics, or health initiatives
  • Notifications for weather-related closures or urgent updates
  • Self check-in prompts and pre-appointment instructions

Thus, texting keeps students in the loop and your clinic operating smoothly.

Enabled Texting? Next Step: Maximize Student Opt-Ins

Unfortunately, not every institution can automatically opt students in for texting, but that doesn’t mean you’re stuck. There are creative ways to boost opt-in rates through smart outreach and communication.

Try these methods:

  • Use email campaigns to invite students to opt in
  • Share a quick post on your health center’s social media explaining how students can check their texting preferences
  • Prompt students to update their communication preferences in the Patient Portal

Pro Tip: Keep it brief! Messages under 150 characters have proven to boost reply rates with our users.

Texting + Mobile Self Check-In = A Seamless Experience

Furthermore, texting becomes even more powerful when combined with mobile check-in capabilities.

For instance, imagine this: A student receives a text on the morning of their appointment with a reminder and a convenient link to check in before leaving their dorm.

When they arrive, they head straight to the waiting room and are seen within minutes. No lines, no waiting for the front desk to finish a call, etc. When students are navigating healthcare without a parent for the first time, that kind of simplicity matters.

Take the Stress Out of Student Health Messaging

Texting has become an essential way to connect with college students, delivering quick and clear communication that improves appointment attendance, boosts engagement, and supports students managing their health away from home.

With Medicat’s Enable Text feature, you can reach the right students at the right time, whether you’re promoting a vaccine clinic or sending out appointment reminders. When combined with mobile check-in, texting creates the seamless, hassle-free experience today’s students expect.

Looking for better engagement without more effort? We have the tools. Schedule a demo to see how we can help.

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