The national effort toward cost containment and treatment efficacy has increased the demand for quality documentation while economic measures have forced behavioral heals facilities to cut clinical staff. Consequently, tools are needed to assist clinicians with streamlining documentation, including initial assessment, patient placement, treatment planning, assessment of outcome, aftercare, and patient tracking. TxManager, Clinical Management Software, will be able to meet these needs with comprehensive, multidisciplinary decision support and a documentation system designed around the clinician's workflow. Phase II SBIR funding is being sought to complete the development and testing of TxManager, to user-defined beta specifications, from the prototype which is being completed in Phase I. An iterative rapid development model is being used that include specific evaluations planned for each stage of development by an internal testing grow and a group of target users. When the software meets alpha criteria for reliability and robustness, a field study will be conducted to measure ease of learning, retained knowledge, efficiency, quality of treatment planning documentation, and user satisfaction. The researchers' software development track record, knowledge of the field, and collaborative relationship with a current customer base will enhance their ability to develop and market TxManager.
All segments of the healthcare information services industry are growing (Dorenfest, Dorenfest' s forecast, for 1997, reports that the segment of the healthcare information market which includes behavioral health, will increase to $1.7 billion. This is evidence by Earley Corporation's 225 current customers who are a ready market for the TxManager product and will provide Phase III funding. TxManager will be used in health care treatment facilities such as: addiction, psychiatric, geriatric, and others.
