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Tag: Clinic Management

Switching EHRs

Top 8 Questions On the Process of Switching EHRs

Q&A: Ask a Customer Onboarding Specialist

Switching EHRs can feel a little like moving to a new house while still hosting guests. You’re trying to keep everything running smoothly, keep people comfortable, and somehow label every box correctly. If you’re a college health clinic leader, counseling center director, or VPSA helping oversee the transition, you’re probably juggling a mix of logistics, compliance, privacy, and the big question: “How do we make this better without disrupting care?”

Below are eight of the most common questions we hear about switching to Medicat:

1. Will Medicat match our current intake workflow (forms, questionnaires, screening tools)?

In most cases, yes—and this is also a chance to make intake way smoother.

If your current process involves students filling out forms in multiple places (or staff re-entering info manually), your MedicatOne implementation is the perfect time to make improvements.

MedicatOne can support a modern intake experience with:

  • Digital forms and questionnaires
  • User-friendly documentation
  • Better routing of information to the right place (i.e. referrals, educational materials, etc.)

And the goal isn’t just to “match what you have.” It’s to improve it, so your intake process becomes faster for students and easier for staff. This workflow audit will be something you discuss with your Customer Onboarding Specialist at the beginning of the upgrade process, as we want you to find greater efficiencies in your new workflow whenever possible!

2. What data do you migrate vs. leave behind? And what cleanup do you recommend?

This is where you get to be strategic.

Most EHR transitions focus on migrating the data you truly need for:

  • Continuity of care
  • Compliance reporting
  • Operational workflows
  • Documentation needs
  • Billing needs (if applicable)

Meanwhile, items like outdated templates, duplicate note types, and “we never use this anymore” can simply be left behind.

Cleanup recommendations before a switch:

  • Retire old or duplicate note types
  • Standardize templates (especially if different staff created their own versions)
  • Remove unused forms
  • Decide what should be archived actively searchable

If your team bills insurance or manages payments, the transition is also a great time to simplify billing workflows and eliminate any unnecessary steps.

3. Do we need to put all students from our old EHR into Medicat?

Usually, no—and most campuses are relieved to hear that. Instead, many schools migrate:

  • Currently enrolled students
  • Recently active records (for continuity of care)
  • Students who may return soon (depending on institutional policy)

Older, inactive records can usually be retained via an export from your previous EHR, stored separately to meet retention requirements without cluttering your new system.

4. How do we handle students who were compliant in our old EHR, so they don’t fall out of compliance in Medicat?

This is one of the first (and most important) concerns—especially if your campus relies on immunization compliance for registration holds, housing, or clinical placements.

The goal during implementation is to carry forward each student’s compliance status, so you’re not starting from scratch. Typically, teams migrate the core immunization dates and compliance indicators, so students who were “good to go” remain so after the switch.

Medicat also supports workflows that can reduce manual review moving forward. For example, Medicat’s immunization tools and integrations can streamline verification and flag noncompliant records quickly.

Friendly tip: Before migration, run a compliance report in your current system so you have a clean benchmark to compare against once you’re live on MedicatOne.

5. How do we set up permissions between clinics or departments?

Medicat supports highly granular permissions, meaning you can control access to view records or make changes based on a user’s role and clinic.

For example:

  • Medical staff may access immunizations and student health center visit notes, but not counseling notes
  • Counseling trainees may only see their assigned clients
  • Training Supervisors can review/approve notes without opening access broadly.

6. How can we automate appointment reminders?

You have options (and students usually appreciate the nudge!).

Automated reminders can be sent through:

  • Secure messages
  • Emails
  • Texts

Why it matters: fewer no-shows, fewer last-minute schedule gaps, and less manual work for front desk staff.

Pro tip: Some campuses also add a quick “what to expect” note in reminders (especially for counseling intakes) to reduce anxiety and boost follow-through.

7. How long does onboarding take, and what training opportunities are available?

Timelines vary depending on your campus size, complexity, and what you’re migrating.

A smooth go-live depends less on “speed” and more on:

  • Well-planned (and cleaned-up) workflows
  • Role-based training opportunities
  • Clear internal ownership (who decides what, does what, and approves what)

Training is typically most successful when it’s hands-on and role-specific. A nurse needs different training than a counselor, who needs different training than the administrative staff.

Friendly reminder: Training isn’t a one-and-done event. The strongest implementations build in refreshers, quick guides, and support for “we forgot how to do that” moments during the first few weeks. That’s why Medicat hosts regular, virtual education events. Plus, our Help Center features hundreds of articles, videos, and step-by-step walkthroughs showing you exactly how to use our tools. Our Support Team is also always here to help.

8. How do we make sure we don’t disrupt care during the upgrade?

Students don’t pause their needs just because your software is changing. Here are the practical ways campuses can reduce disruption:

  • Plan go-live timing strategically (avoid peak immunization or intake seasons when possible)
  • Keep a clear cutover plan for scheduling, chart access, and communications
  • Migrate the data needed for active patients and ongoing cases first
  • Use parallel processes briefly if needed (for critical services)
  • Communicate early with campus partners (housing, athletics, academic affairs)

For counseling centers, continuity can also mean ensuring risk and safety info is easy to access in the new system—without digging. Many leaders value dashboards and centralized risk tracking for exactly this reason.

Key Takeaways

Switching EHRs is a big change—but it’s also an opportunity to simplify workflows, reduce manual work, and set up your team for better student care.

The smoothest transitions focus on the essentials: clean data, smart permissions, streamlined intake, and strong training. If you plan continuity from the start, students shouldn’t feel the switch—except in the form of a better care experience.

Have more questions or want an in-depth walkthrough of our offerings? Connect with our team.

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Immunization Compliance Management

How Medicat’s Immunization Compliance Management Tools Work Together

By: Nick Ferrari, Chief Revenue Officer at Medicat

Immunization compliance management is one of the most important (and most time-consuming) processes campus health clinics handle, and it doesn’t stop after move-in day.

Between high submission volumes, inconsistent documentation, and students coming to campus from multiple states, the operational challenges are abundant: processing records accurately, reducing manual review time, and communicating with students about their compliance status. 

A more connected approach to immunization compliance

Medicat’s immunization ecosystem is designed to help campus teams manage the full lifecycle of immunization compliance, from student submission to verification, to registry interfaces, all within a single, streamlined workflow.

This connected approach brings together four key capabilities:

We’ll dive into these capabilities in detail below. Before we do that, hear how our immunization compliance solutions work together:

1. MedicatOne Immunization Compliance Module

At the center of this ecosystem is Medicat’s Immunization Compliance solution, which supports an end-to-end intake compliance workflow. It’s built for the unique needs of colleges and universities.

Students submit immunization records through the portal, and staff processes those records by reviewing the submitted data and documents.

This module supports core compliance workflow, including:

  • Collecting immunization documentation through a secure student portal
  • Manually reviewing and validating submitted records
  • Identifying missing or non-compliant requirements for follow-up
  • Communicating with these non-compliant students individually or en masse

For many schools, the biggest win is bringing their compliance workflow into the digital world in an organized and standardized way. Staff can leverage our tools to apply consistent review practices while managing high volume during peak enrollment periods.

2. State Immunization Registry Interfaces: Faster Path to Compliance

State immunization registry interfaces help clinics reduce back-and-forth with students and outside providers by enabling a two-way data exchange between the institution and its state immunization registry.

That connectivity supports two high-impact workflows:

  1. Pulling records from the state registry on behalf of students (available in nearly every U.S. state)
  2. Submitting administered immunizations back to the state—for example, after campus flu clinics or other vaccine events

This makes compliance faster, more reliable, and supports efficient reporting.

3. VeriVax: Simplifying Multi-State Verification

For institutions with a high percentage of out-of-state students, record verification can become a major operational hurdle.

VeriVax is a tool designed to address this challenge by enabling connections to multiple state and city immunization registries.

It also helps solve common access limitations that show up when:

  • A student received vaccines in a different state than where they’re enrolling
  • Registry access is tied to care relationships or location-based rules
  • Documentation is incomplete, inconsistent, or hard to validate manually

With VeriVax, students can initiate a records transfer directly from the portal. They click a button, the system queries the relevant registry, and the record is delivered into the institution’s immunization compliance workflow.

For staff, that “source of truth” from a registry can increase confidence in record validity and reduce time spent interpreting handwritten forms or scanning PDFs.

4. ICM Agent: AI-Assisted Processing to Reduce Manual Review Time

The Immunization Compliance Management Agent (ICM Agent) uses AI to reduce the most repetitive part of intake: opening, reading, and manually comparing each submitted document to the immunization record data entered by the student.

Instead of staff reviewing every incoming record one by one, the ICM Agent can:

  • Review immunization records
  • Check the information entered by the student against their submitted records
  • Verify whether requirements are met and flag non-compliant students for follow-up

This is especially valuable when volume spikes, and teams need to maintain both speed and accuracy without burning out staff.

Key Takeaways

When MedicatOne ICM, state registry interfaces, VeriVax, and the ICM Agent work together, the outcome is incredibly impactful to clinic resources: less time is spent collecting, validating, and processing immunization records, without sacrificing confidence in the accuracy of student compliance data.

For campus leaders, that can mean fewer enrollment delays, better public health preparedness, and more staff capacity for direct student care.

Spend less time chasing records and more time supporting students. Schedule a demo to see how Medicat’s tools work together to streamline immunization intake, verification, and follow-up.

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SDOH social determinants of health

From SDOH to Student Success Metrics: What VPSAs Want to See

SDOH

When students don’t have stable housing, reliable food, or safe transportation, it shows up fast. This is seen in missed appointments, dropped classes, and withdrawals.

These basic needs barriers (often called social determinants of health, or SDOH) are becoming a student success issue, not just a health issue.

This post breaks down a simple metrics ladder campus health, counseling, and student affairs teams can use to report progress—without overpromising causation.

Why Vice Presidents of Student Affairs (VPSAs) care about SDOH data (and why your clinic should too)

SDOH are the non-medical factors that shape health—like housing, food access, safety, and transportation.

For instance, in a college setting, those conditions often show up as:

  • Missed medical or counseling appointments
  • Anxiety, depression, or stress worsened by financial strain
  • Medication nonadherence when students can’t afford prescriptions or transportation
  • Class disruption or missed time due to housing or work instability

For VPSAs, these patterns are early warning signs of student disengagement. If a campus can connect SDOH trends to student success metrics (like retention, course completion rates, or time-to-degree), it becomes easier to justify investments in basic needs programs, care coordination, and staffing.

The “metrics ladder” VPSAs want: from need to action to outcomes

A common mistake is jumping from “we screened students” to “retention improved.” VPSAs want the steps in between: need, action, engagement, and outcomes.

Here’s a campus-ready metrics ladder that works well across health clinics, counseling centers, and student affairs.

1) Need metrics: What barriers are students reporting?

These metrics help leaders understand demand and equity gaps.

Examples:

  • % of students screening positive by category (food, housing, transportation, safety)
  • Trend lines by term (e.g., “food insecurity rose during the Fall semester”)
  • Breakouts by class year, commuter status, or international student status

If you need a validated starting point, use a standard SDOH screener such as CMS AHC HRSN or PRAPARE) and keep categories consistent across terms.

2) Action metrics: What did we do when needs were identified?

This is where clinics and counseling centers can show operational follow-through.

Examples:

  • % of positive screens that received a resource list or referral
  • Time from positive screen → outreach
  • Referral acceptance rate (student agrees to receive help)
  • Warm handoff completion rate (student successfully connected to a person/program)

These metrics show follow-through—without implying your campus can solve every need.

3) Engagement metrics: Did students stay connected to care and support?

Moreover, VPSAs care deeply about whether services are accessible and sticky. Engagement is often the bridge between SDOH work and student success metrics.

Examples:

  • Kept appointment rate (before vs. after resource connection)
  • No-show rate among students with identified needs
  • Follow-up completion rate for referrals (e.g., counseling follow-up within 14 days)
  • Utilization of basic needs services after referral

Clinic example: If transportation is causing missed visits, small changes—bus passes, telehealth, or schedule flexibility—can increase kept-appointment rates quickly (even before retention shifts).

4) Outcome metrics: What changed in student success?

This is the layer VPSAs ultimately want, but it’s strongest when paired with the earlier steps.

Examples:

  • Term-to-term retention among students who received support vs. those who didn’t
  • Credit completion ratio after intervention (especially for high-need cohorts)
  • Withdrawal timing patterns tied to basic needs spikes (often midterm season)
  • Student-reported well-being or belonging measures (when aligned with institutional assessment)

You won’t always be able to claim causation—but you can show directional improvement and reduced risk, which is often enough to guide resource decisions and strategy.

Think of outcomes as reduced risk and directional improvement, not a single silver-bullet claim.

What makes metrics “VPSA-ready”: clarity, comparability, and context

To be useful at the administrative level, student success metrics tied to SDOH data should be:

  • Simple: 6–10 metrics that fit on one slide
  • Comparable: track over time (this term vs. last term)
  • Equity-aware: show whether gaps are narrowing for specific populations
  • Operationally actionable: each metric has an owner and a next step

A VPSA-ready starter set (8 metrics):

  • % screened (by term)
  • % positive screens (by category)
  • Time to outreach after a positive screen
  • % receiving referral/resources
  • Warm handoff completion rate
  • No-show rate (SDOH-positive cohort)
  • Follow-up within 14 days (medical or counseling)
  • Retention or credit completion (supported vs. not)

This is also where cross-campus partnership matters. For example, student affairs may own emergency aid and basic needs programming; clinics and counseling centers often own mental health screening and clinical follow-up. Shared metrics and reporting bring the two together.

How to report this without hiring more staff

The most practical approach is collect once, use many times, reduce duplicate entry and let systems route tasks.

A few workflow principles that protect staff time:

  • Let students self-report in a secure portal (and explain why you ask)
  • Route positive screens into a task queue—don’t rely on manual flags
  • Document interventions using quick templates (resource list, referral, follow-up scheduled)
  • Review trends monthly, quarterly, or each semester—SDOH metrics are a strategy tool, not a crisis management dashboard

Key Takeaways

VPSAs don’t just want more SDOH screening—they want a line of sight from needs to action to student success metrics.

Start with a small, validated screener, track response and engagement, and then connect that data to retention and completion outcomes.

When clinics, counseling centers, and student affairs share definitions and a lightweight reporting cadence, SDOH data becomes a practical tool for equity, retention, and smarter resource allocation.

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EHR Features

Top 5 EHR Features Clinics Use Every Day

Insights from Nikki Ford, Customer Success Manager at Medicat

Top 5 EHR Features

Campus health and counseling centers don’t have time for “nice-to-have” tools. The best EHR features are the ones teams lean on every single day—the ones that shave minutes off documentation, reduce clicks, and help students get what they need faster.

In my work with college health clinics and counseling & wellness centers, I hear about these features constantly. They’re practical, quick to adopt, and they make a real difference in clinics that are already stretched thin.

What makes certain EHR features most useful?

Higher ed care settings are uniquely complex. In the same week, you might be handling walk-ins, acute care, immunization compliance, counseling sessions, trainee supervision, and campus outreach. That’s exactly why the EHR features teams love most aren’t flashy—they’re the ones that protect time and improve consistency.

When documentation is faster, reminders run automatically, and note selection is standardized, teams can often reclaim capacity without adding headcount. And that matters not just to clinic leaders—but also to VPSAs looking closely at student access to care, retention numbers, and student success outcomes.

Below are the top five features clinics tell me they use all the time—and why they keep coming back to them.

(1) Auto Replace: Speed up charting with fewer keystrokes

Who uses it: Providers, nurses, counselors

Auto Replace is one of those “trust me, you’ll love this” features I show teams all the time. It expands short phrases into longer text, so providers aren’t retyping the same instructions and clinical language all day. And once people start using it, it tends to spread fast—because everyone wants the shortcut once they see how smooth it works.

In a college health clinic, Auto Replace is perfect for common patient instructions, follow-up language, or frequently used clinical phrasing. In counseling and wellness centers, it’s a great fit for consistent language in routine note sections, like consent statements or common intervention wording.

Value/impact: Time saved
This is an “in the moment” win. If a clinician uses it dozens of times a day, the minutes add up quickly!

Common use examples include:

  • Standard discharge guidance
  • Common assessment phrasing
  • Frequently repeated counseling note language

(2) Note Favorites: Consistent templates that reduce errors

Who uses it: Providers, nurses, counselors

Note Favorites is what I recommend when someone tells me, “Our staff is spending too much time searching for the right template.” It gives clinicians quick access to the templates they use most, so charting stays consistent, and nobody has to guess which form they’re supposed to pull.

This is especially helpful in higher ed environments with rotating staff, per-diem coverage, or clinical trainees. I’ve worked with schools where a new part-time provider came in, opened the EHR, and immediately felt overwhelmed by choices.

Once we set up Note Favorites, it was like we cleared the clutter. The right templates were front and center, and the provider could focus on the visit—not navigating the EHR system.

Value/impact: Time saved + fewer errors
When the correct templates are easy to find, teams are less likely to select the wrong documentation type, waste precious time, or miss important components of the clinical note that are tied to billing or reporting.

(3) Notification Tool: Automated messages that reduce no-shows

Who uses it: Admin teams (often with clinic leadership support)

If a clinic asks me, “Where do we start if we want to improve the student experience?” I usually point to automation first. The Notification Tool helps teams automate appointment reminders, no-show messages, form completion reminders, and post-visit assessments, so staff aren’t manually tracking and managing follow-ups.

I worked with one campus that was constantly dealing with last-minute gaps in the schedule—especially during peak weeks. We set up reminders and a couple of simple form prompts, and within a short time, they told me the difference was noticeable. The schedule held more consistently and the front desk team wasn’t spending their day chasing down students.

Value/impact: Time saved + reduced no-shows
A reminder that prevents even a handful of missed appointments each week protects the schedule, maximizes clinicians’ time, and helps reduce wait times—especially when demand for services is high.

(4) M1 Default Note Type: The right note is easier to choose

Who uses it:  Providers, nurses, counselors

This one sounds small on paper, but in real life it removes a very common friction point: “Which note type should I use for this type of visit?” Assigning a default note type to an appointment type makes the “right” choice obvious. Plus, it speeds up the start of documentation.

One of my favorite moments with this feature was working with a training-heavy clinic. They had student clinicians rotating regularly, and supervisors kept seeing the same issue: someone would select a note type that almost matched the visit, then everything downstream got messy.

Once we configured default note types, the clinic told me the impact was immediate. New student clinicians could spot the correct note type more easily, and supervisors spent less time untangling documentation.

Value/impact: Time saved + fewer errors
When clinics standardize note selection, they see better documentation quality and consistency across providers—which positively impacts reporting and quality review outcomes.

(5) Blaster: Targeted outreach and reporting support

Who uses it: Across clinic usage

Blaster is one of those tools teams really appreciate when the pressure is on. It supports mass communication to targeted student populations and can also serve as a helpful reporting tool—especially during time-sensitive moments like immunization season, policy changes, or public health concerns.

I was working with a school recently that needed to quickly identify and communicate with a specific group of students for compliance follow-up. They didn’t have time to build lists manually, and they definitely didn’t want to bounce between systems. Using Blaster, they could narrow in on the right population and get a message out fast—without the spreadsheet scramble.

Value/impact: Time saved + reporting
For many teams, this becomes one of the most practical tools for outreach and compliance-related workflows—especially when campus health guidance changes quickly or deadlines are fast approaching.

Quick checklist: What these EHR features improve

If you’re evaluating an EHR or optimizing your current setup, these five features tend to improve:

  • Documentation speed and quality
  • Standardization across staff and trainees
  • Student attendance through automated reminders
  • Data consistency for reporting and decision making
  • Outreach to targeted populations (without manual list-building)

Key Takeaways

The best EHR features are the ones teams use daily because they remove friction from even the trickiest workflows.

Auto Replace, Note Favorites, Notification Tool, M1 Default Note Type, and Blaster help campus clinics save time, reduce errors, and improve access for students.

P.S. Want a closer look? Schedule a demo to see Medicat’s tools in action.

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Campus Health Services

What Today’s Students Expect from Campus Health Services

Campus Health Services student expectations

Nearly 9 in 10 patients (89%) say it’s important to schedule appointments anytime using digital tools, and today’s students bring that expectation straight to campus. For campus leaders, this is more than a convenience trend. It’s now a core part of how students judge whether campus health services are accessible, trustworthy, and worth using.

Below are the top features and experiences today’s students expect from college health services. Plus, learn how clinics can deliver them without adding additional work.

1) Text reminders and mobile-friendly communication

Students live on their phones. If your campus health center still relies heavily on calls and voicemails, students may delay care or no-show, simply because the process feels cumbersome.

Text reminders help in two big ways:

  • First, they reduce missed appointments by meeting students where they already are.
  • Second, they lower the burden on your front desk staff because fewer students call in “just to confirm” or to cancel. This allows your staff to focus on the more important tasks at hand.

What this can look like in a higher-ed setting:

  • Appointment reminders by text with clear instructions on how to confirm or cancel, i.e., reply with “1” to confirm or “2” to cancel
  • Pre-visit forms available for health history, consent forms, and contact preferences
  • Targeted outreach for time-sensitive needs (e.g., vaccine deadlines, lab follow-ups, referrals)

For college health clinics, text reminders can help drive attendance for immunization appointments, STI testing, follow-up visits, and vaccine clinic announcements.

2) Self-scheduling that actually works (and lives in a modern patient portal)

Students expect to book services the same way they book everything else: fast, online, and without waiting on hold. A modern patient portal is the centerpiece of that experience—especially when self-scheduling is baked in.

This is where many portals fall short: they technically exist, but they’re clunky, hard to find, or force students back into phone tag. When self-scheduling is easy and intuitive, it supports both access and clinic efficiency.

Here are a few high-impact self-scheduling features students value:

  • Real-time booking (not “request an appointment and wait”)
  • Clear visit types (e.g., “UTI symptoms,” “medication follow-up,” “same-day counseling consult”)
  • Smart guardrails that route students to the right level of care (urgent vs. routine)

Operationally, self-scheduling can reduce inbound calls, shorten scheduling time, and make it easier to fill cancellations. That means campus health services can increase throughput without compromising the student experience.

3) “Less clicking, more caring”: automation that gives time back to staff

Let’s be honest — nobody wants to feel overlooked during their appointments. And college students absolutely notice when providers are rushed, distracted by screens, or spend half of the appointment furiously typing.

That’s why clinic leaders should care about what happens behind the scenes: technology that reduces manual work, so clinicians can be fully present.

Two examples that resonate with student priorities:

1. ICM Agent: fewer manual steps for immunization compliance

Immunization compliance is one of the most manual responsibilities for college health teams. When systems automate verification, flag noncompliance, and streamline follow-up, staff spend less time reviewing documents and more time helping students navigate next steps.

For schools juggling thousands of records, the ICM Agent offers the kind of automation that can be the difference between “deadline chaos” and a calm, trackable process.

–> Learn more about ICM Agent

2. Note Agent: More Face Time, Less Documentation Time

Students want to feel heard. Ambient listening tools can reduce documentation burden, helping providers maintain eye contact and build stronger rapport. In fact, research suggests eye contact is a big deal: 95.8% of patients reported feeling comfortable when clinicians used eye contact to strengthen the relationship.

Even small reductions in workflow friction matter. Note Agent’s clean interface and fewer clicks support faster charting and smoother appointments, which improves the student experience in a way they can actually feel.

–> Learn more about Note Agent

4) A seamless experience across medical, counseling, and wellness

A seamless experience is essential for providing a positive health experience to students on your campus. When campus services feel fragmented—different portals, separate forms, repeated intake questions—students can get confused and are more likely to disengage.

This is where integrated workflows can quietly improve care:

  • Shared scheduling (so students land in the right place the first time)
  • Coordinated referrals between medical, counseling, and wellness services
  • Consistent communication and expectations across departments

For VPSAs and student affairs leaders, this is also a retention and student success issue. When access is simple, and care is coordinated, students get help earlier—before challenges escalate into academic disruption.

5) Digital convenience must come with trust and privacy

Even with online scheduling and messaging, students (and their parents) want reassurance that their information stays protected.

Any modern patient portal or messaging tool should be backed by clear privacy standards and role-based access. Additionally, it’s important to comply with healthcare and higher-ed requirements like HIPAA and FERPA.

A practical way to build trust is to communicate the “why” behind your workflows:

  • Why certain visit types require screening questions
  • Why are some appointment slots limited
  • How privacy is protected across medical and counseling records

When students understand the process, they’re more likely to use it.

How to meet these expectations without burning out your team

You don’t have to rebuild everything at once. Many campuses see quick wins by prioritizing improvements that reduce friction for both students and staff:

  • Turn on (or optimize) automated reminders for high no-show visit types
  • Make self-scheduling the default for common appointment types
  • Identify your biggest “click drains” and automate or simplify them (immunization review, repetitive documentation, intake routing)

P.S. As a Medicat customer, our support team can help with this!

Key Takeaways

Today’s students expect campus health services to feel as easy as the apps they use every day: text reminders, self-scheduling, and a modern patient portal are now baseline.

The most impactful upgrades also reduce staff workload. Moreover, through tools like Medicat’s ICM Agent and Note Agent, providers can spend more time connecting with students.

If you’re planning next steps, start with the friction points that affect both student access and staff time, then build toward a more seamless and trusted digital experience.

Want a more student-friendly health experience without adding clicks for staff? Schedule a demo with our team to explore our modern student portal experience, messaging tips, and documentation tools.

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AI-Powered Immunization Review

AI-Powered Immunization Review With Medicat’s ICM Agent

How the AI-Powered ICM Agent Works

Immunization compliance can feel like a seasonal stress test—especially ahead of fall move-in. In a recent webinar, Ruth Patten, Director of Client Development, and Ann Wright, Director of Product, unpacked how Medicat’s new ICM Agent is designed to take a major chunk of manual verification off your plate.

We rounded up the webinar’s most important insights to help you get a better understanding of how this tool works. You can also view the full webinar replay below:

Q1: What are the biggest pain points schools face related to immunization compliance management

Even with clear requirements and frequent outreach, many teams see the same issues every semester:

  • Low student engagement: Students ignore messages or wait until the last minute.
  • Incomplete submissions: Dates without documents (or documents without the required information like DOB and physician signature).
  • Data-entry mistakes: Wrong dates or mismatched vaccines entered in the portal.
  • Non-English records: Staff must request translations or rely on online language support.
  • The summer time crunch: Reviews pile up; staffing fluctuates, and registration holds can start impacting students.

Q2: How manual is immunization verification today?

During our spring client survey, we uncovered that 93% of schools still do at least some manual verification /manual record entry.  Moreover, 30 of the schools we surveyed reported that more than half of their verification is done manually—a big signal that there are still ample opportunities for automation to make a big impact on compliance workflow.

Q3: What has Medicat already done to reduce manual work in immunization compliance?

We walked through several tools that many campuses already use:

  1. Student portal data entry + upload to shift basic data entry away from staff
  2. State immunization registry connections (automated push/pull—great when students were immunized in your state)
  3. VeriVax integration to pull records across state lines when students were immunized elsewhere

However, even with these tools, a remaining slice of records (especially in international or non-state registry scenarios) still requires a human to compare documentation against what’s entered. This is why we’ve built the ICM Agent!

Q4: So… what is the ICM Agent?

ICM Agent is Medicat’s AI-powered tool that compares dates and details entered in the system to the dates/details shown on uploaded documentation. It then marks the appropriate immunization “facts” as verified (or leaves them unverified when sufficient documentation is missing).

The goal is simple: put more of the tedious comparison work onto the Agent’s plate while keeping a human in control in case any adjustments to compliance status need to be made.

This functionality builds on Medicat’s existing Immunization Compliance tools, including the student portal, state immunization registries, and streamlined document review.

Q5: How does ICM Agent help teams day-to-day?

There are four primary benefits to using the Medicat ICM Agent:

  1. Less manual labor verifying immunization facts.
  2. Faster processing across many files at once (instead of one-by-one review)
  3. Human oversight stays in place (staff can see what AI did and override as needed)
  4. Reduced risk of human error, like missed signatures or overlookeddetails

For campus health teams, the result is smoother, more efficient workflow without sacrificing accuracy or oversight.

Q6: How will staff know what was reviewed by AI or a human?

During our webinar, we shared a set of new icon statuses inside MedicatOne ICM:

Document icons (paper icons):

  • Unprocessed (no human/AI has reviewed yet)
  • Processed by human (verified by staff)
  • Pending AI (queued for AI review)
  • Processed by AI (AI reviewed and verified what it could)
  • Failed (reserved for technical failures)

Fact icons (round dots):

  • Unverified (no supporting documentation)
  • Verified (trusted source like registry/VeriVaxor manually verified documentation)
  • Verified by AI (the “favorite icon” moment—AI found proof in the document)

Q7: What happens if the AI can’t read a file?

In cases where a file can’t be fully processed, the system handles it in one of two ways:

  • If the document is readable but contains no usable immunization data, the ICM Agent will mark the document as processed but will not verify any facts—mirroring how a human reviewer would handle the same situation.
  • If the file is technically unreadable (for example, it can’t be opened), the document is flagged as failed, and staff can prompt the student to re-upload a valid file.

Q8: Can it handle waivers and lab results?

Support for waivers and lab results is part of the ICM Agent roadmap and will be introduced in future product phases. Each phase builds on the last to expand automation and reduce both student and staff workload.

Q9: Does ICM Agent store PHI?

Medicat’s ICM Agent does not persist PHI. The comparison happens “in memory,” and only the results are saved back into your Medicat system. Additionally, security documentation (HECVAT) is available upon request. Please email info@medicat.com for more information.

Q10: How do students learn what’s missing once ICM Agent reviews their submission?

This workflow can remain automated: when immunization fact statuses change, notifications can be sent to students directing them back to the portal, where the status of satisfied versus missing requirements is clearly displayed.

Pro tip: Teams can configure custom notifications to add more explicit instructions.

Q11: Is the ICM Agent expected to cause system delays?

No. The ICM Agent operates as a separate system on different servers than our EHR platform and does not interact directly with your SQL database. As a result, it does not impact overall system performance.

Key Takeaways

ICM Agent is built to reduce the heaviest part of immunization season workload: manual document comparison at scale—without removing human control.

If your team is already using MedicatOne cohorts, the student portal, a state registry interface, and/or VeriVax, ICM Agent is designed to close the “last mile” that still forces staff to do manual review.

Interested in learning more? Get in touch with our team, or sign up for the ICM Agent waitlist!

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Off-Campus Referral Network

Building a Strong Off-Campus Referral Network

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

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.

Additionally, 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!

Curious what this looks like in minutes saved? Try our Note Agent calculator to estimate how much time your team would save each week.

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. For instance, 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.

P.S. Turn charting time into patient time. Explore Note Agent.

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Medicat One Counseling Reports

Essential EHR Reports for Better Clinic Operations

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

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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