Compare behavioral health CRMs with one two-site admissions demo and a 12-check scorecard for referral identity, eligibility, EHR handoff, and reporting.
Compare behavioral health CRMs by giving each vendor the same referral, coverage, and admission cases, then reconciling the report against the records you saw in the demo. Use two sites, a repeated inquiry, a missing benefit amount, and a site change. Ask the admissions, clinical, and reporting teams to each show their part.
Download the behavioral health CRM demo scorecard (CSV). Use one copy per vendor and keep the same 12 checks across demos.
How to compare behavioral health CRMs
A behavioral health CRM helps staff manage referrals and follow-up before a patient enters care. An evaluation should cover the pipeline, the intake information the clinical team receives, and the reporting your team uses to see which referrals became admissions. Bring the people who do the work so they can verify what they see using their own proposed roles.
The federal Health IT Playbook describes workflow as “the steps that you and your staff take to complete tasks.” Evaluate those steps in the order staff use them. Start at intake and finish when the reporting lead can explain the count of admitted and open referrals.
Set up the same fictional referrals
Use two sites with different schedules. A referral partner first sends Patient A for IOP at Site A. The partner resends that same request and later sends a separate request for a different service. Patient B has the same name but a different date of birth and comes through the website. Give each underlying request a reference so staff can check which arrival belongs to which referral.
| Arrival | Fictional event | Expected record relationship |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Partner sends Patient A's IOP referral | New referral for Patient A |
| 2 | Partner resends the IOP referral with the same reference | Same IOP referral with its prior history |
| 3 | Partner sends Patient A a distinct service request | Separate referral for Patient A |
| 4 | Patient B sends a website inquiry | Separate person and referral |
After intake, move Patient A's IOP referral from Site A to Site B. Set the scorecard's expected end state before the demo. The IOP referral becomes an admission, the second partner referral stays open, and the website referral closes without admission. Use only fictional records and a prepared eligibility response.
Test referral capture and identity review
- Open the original referral. Have the admissions user enter the first request with its source, program of interest, site and follow-up owner. Ask another user to open it from the queue and identify the next step.
- Review the resend. Send the same fictional referral again. Ask intake to show the original record and how staff decide that the arrival belongs to it. Look for the prior activity and original source after the review.
- Preserve distinct records. Add Patient A's second service request and Patient B's same-name inquiry. Show how the team keeps the second request separate while linking it to the right person, and how staff prevent linking Patient B to Patient A's chart.
The SAFER guide on patient identification is a companion reference for teams reviewing identity workflows. In the demo, record the match evidence and the actions a user can take from their proposed role. Duplicate referral identity review
Check benefits and authorization before the site move
- Read the prepared response. Use an example with active coverage and one unanswered benefit amount. Ask the staff member to show the insurance, service requested, response date, known amounts and the outstanding question. Save the reviewed values and reopen the referral.
- Give the exception an owner. Assign the missing benefit question to a named role with a due date. Ask that person to find it without being told which record to open.
- Open the authorization separately. Have the reviewer show the status of the authorization for the planned service. Record who will check whether the benefits and authorization information still fits the admission if the referral changes sites.
CMS describes its HETS eligibility system as allowing users to submit requests and “receive 271 responses.” In the scorecard, record which details the response provided and which details still need follow-up. Use the CMS HETS description for the transaction terminology and the eligibility, benefits, and authorization checklist for the handoff.
Follow the admission into the EHR
- Reassign the referral to Site B. Have the original and receiving owners show their queues after the move. Check that the activity history, original referral source, and outstanding benefit question are still available to the staff who need them.
- Convert the admitted inquiry. Have an admissions user bring Patient A into the EHR. From the receiving clinician's account, verify the identity, Site B, intake material and the planned appointment. Write down which fields were copied and which need to be entered or confirmed.
- Test a correction after conversion. Correct a fictional contact detail or attach a corrected referral document. Ask both teams where they see the update, who owns any remaining action and what history remains visible.
The receiving team should be able to explain where it got each value and who owns the next step. Keep a short list of the fields you verified and compare it across vendors. CRM-to-EHR field handoff
Reconcile the referral report
- Set a common reporting population. Use the same referral creation dates, sources and sites. For this exercise, count distinct referrals in that intake cohort and admissions from those referrals through the chosen cutoff.
- Read the report and its detail rows. Expect three distinct referrals from the four arrivals and one admission. The referral partner contributed two referrals and one admission. The website contributed one referral and no admissions. Check that Site B appears as the admitting site for the IOP case.
- Explain the differences. Ask how a resend, later site move and separate service request affect the counts. Open the underlying detail for each row and reconcile it to the three references. Record how the vendor handles an open referral at the cutoff.
Using this fictional definition, the overall conversion rate is one admission out of three referrals, or 33.3%. The referral partner's rate is one out of two, or 50%. Compare rates only after the teams agree on what each report counts. Referral source attribution guide
Score the evidence while it is visible
| Result | Record it when |
|---|---|
| Shown | The proposed staff role completed the check and showed the evidence. |
| Needs setup | The vendor identified the setup and the team still needs to repeat the check. |
| Workaround | The team demonstrated a separate manual step or tool to reach the result. |
| Not demonstrated | The evidence or the required access was unavailable in the demo. |
Record the screen or report you saw, the role that opened it and a follow-up owner. Agree in advance which outcomes your team needs for rollout. Assign someone to rerun those checks after the vendor completes any setup. Keep identity, coverage, clinical receipt and reporting as separate decisions so an attractive pipeline cannot hide a missing handoff.
Run the case in Ease Health
Open the Ease Health admissions walkthrough for the referral and clinical handoff. Use Check Eligibility on the inquiry to review the Availity response and save confirmed Payer Verified Values. Then have the receiving team verify the converted record from its own view. Eligibility walkthrough
In its public case study, NOW Counseling reported that intake documentation went from roughly two hours to about one hour after moving to configurable templates. Use the same timed task on your own sample workflow if documentation time is part of the decision. NOW Counseling case study
Frequently Asked Questions
What should a behavioral health CRM demo cover?
Give every vendor the same fictional referrals. Test a repeated inquiry, an ambiguous identity match, an open coverage question, a change of site, conversion into the EHR, and a report reconciled to the underlying referrals.
How can an admissions team test duplicate referrals?
Use a resend of the same referral, a new service request for the same person, and a different person with the same name. Ask the vendor to show how intake distinguishes the three cases and records the decision.
How can I compare referral conversion reports across vendors?
Use the same intake date range and referral population. Agree on what counts as one referral and one admission, then compare the summary against the underlying referral and admission records.
What does an active eligibility response establish in the demo?
It gives staff a coverage response for the inquiry. Have the team read the response details, identify any unanswered benefits question, and open the separate authorization record for the planned service.
How do I use the behavioral health CRM scorecard?
Use one copy per vendor. For each check, capture the evidence observed, a result, and the person who owns follow-up. Review the unresolved results with admissions, clinical, and reporting leads before choosing a vendor.
