Detox EHR Demo: Test the Handoff to Residential Care or IOP
Use a sample detox transfer to evaluate an EHR. See how many facilities reported detox, residential treatment and IOP in the 2024 SAMHSA public-use data.
In the 2024 SAMHSA public-use file, 448 of 3,127 included facility records that reported detoxification (14.3%) also reported both residential treatment and intensive outpatient treatment.
That is a count of facilities reporting services. It makes a practical demo question worth asking. Can your staff record both an internal transfer and a referral to an outside provider, with enough detail for the next person to act? Bring one fictional detox chart and run it both ways. Use the national and state counts to see which combinations the survey records reported.
What should a detox center test in an EHR demo?
Have the vendor use one fictional detox episode from admission through the receiving program’s first encounter. Ask admissions, the receiving clinician, and billing to each open the record and show what they would use to take the next step. Use your own admission checklist and a fictional example, with dates and staff roles supplied in advance.
| Handoff | Ask the vendor to show | Evidence to record |
|---|---|---|
| Intake to detox | The referral, intake record, and admitting location in the chart | The next team can find the original documents and identify who entered them |
| Detox to residential | The end of the detox placement and the start of the residential placement | The sending and receiving locations, dates, and prior notes can be reviewed |
| Authorization to first visit | The approved service and dates alongside the planned or completed visit | Staff can identify an approval that covers the receiving program or flag a mismatch |
| Completed note to billing | The encounter and the resulting draft claim or charge review | Billing can trace the provider, location, date, service, and units |
| Outside referral | The referral summary, an owner, and the receiving program’s confirmation | Staff can tell when a referral was sent and when the receiving program accepted it |
Run the internal transfer once before asking about optional automation. If the vendor moves the patient on screen, have the receiving clinician open the record from their own view. Confirm which documents are available in that view and how they find the earlier placement without closing their work in the new program. Use the addiction treatment EHR buyer guide for the broader evaluation.
What did facilities report offering alongside detox?
The analysis covers the 50 states and DC. Residential treatment means short- or long-term non-hospital residential substance use treatment. IOP means intensive outpatient treatment for substance use. All four rows below are facility records that reported detoxification. Each record is counted in one row.
| Other services reported | Facility records | Share of included records |
|---|---|---|
| Residential treatment and IOP | 448 | 14.3% |
| Residential treatment without IOP | 845 | 27.0% |
| IOP without residential treatment | 787 | 25.2% |
| Neither of the two services | 1,047 | 33.5% |
| Total | 3,127 | 100.0% |
The count reporting residential treatment is 1,293, or 41.3% of the included records. The count reporting IOP is 1,235, or 39.5%. Both totals include the 448 records that reported both. The last row can include facilities that offer other substance use treatment services.
The overlap also varied across records from different states. California had 46 of 543 included records reporting both (8.5%), Florida had 36 of 193 (18.7%), and Texas had 32 of 171 (18.7%). New York had 6 of 144 (4.2%). These examples describe what respondents reported at the time of the survey. For a referral today, confirm availability with the receiving facility. The CSV gives the denominators for all states and DC.
How do you test a transfer inside one organization?
Use a fictional patient whose detox placement ends on Friday and whose residential admission starts on Saturday. Have the sending team document the transfer and the receiving team open the chart for the first time. Ask each person to identify which dates they enter and where the next person sees them. Keep the original intake, the detox notes, and the new residential encounter distinct so the example exposes which stage each record belongs to.
Then ask billing to find the first residential encounter. Change one field in the demonstration, such as the service location, and trace the correction through the chart and any draft claim. Ask the vendor to show when the updated value becomes available and who can see it. Stop at the preview stage in a demo.
In Ease Health, staff can record a level-of-care change in the same chart and refer back to the earlier placement and notes. Billing can review a completed encounter and its proposed claim lines in Claim Preview. See the level-of-care transfer walkthrough and the claim review walkthrough.
How do you test an outside referral?
Run the same chart with a second scenario. The patient has a planned discharge and the receiving IOP uses a different EHR. Leave acceptance pending while the sending team records the referral. Ask what staff can see about the summary they sent, where an updated summary would go, and who owns the follow-up.
Next, introduce a confirmation with a different start date. The team should be able to record who confirmed it and when, then identify any appointments or coverage questions that need review. Ask staff to explain what they would do if the receiving provider never responds. The evidence is a visible owner and a specific next step, plus a record of when the referral was sent and accepted.
The survey describes services for a facility record. It does not show whether patients transferred between programs or whether the programs share a chart. Use the outside referral scenario even if your organization also offers residential treatment and IOP. It tests the workflow when the receiving team uses another system.
How were the counts calculated?
Use the Delimited ZIP, codebook, and questionnaire linked from the 2024 N-SUMHSS public-use release. The codebook identifies the detoxification question as A1 (DETOX). Include records with a yes response to that question and a facility location in the 50 states or DC.
Read the residential setting question (CTYPE7) and its short- and long-term treatment follow-ups (CTYPERC3 and CTYPERC4). Count residential treatment when either treatment answer is yes. Read the outpatient setting question (CTYPE1) and its IOP follow-up (CTYPE2). When the parent setting answer is no, its follow-up is skipped and the corresponding service counts as no. When the setting answer is yes, require a valid answer to each relevant follow-up. Both classifications were determinate for all 3,127 included records.
Use the 2024 questionnaire to review how those questions branch. The analysis uses one count per included facility record. It does not weight facilities by beds, admissions, or patient volume. It excludes locations outside the 50 states and DC. State counts describe the included survey records. Small denominators make percentages sensitive to one record.
What should the team take away from the demo?
Keep one scorecard per vendor with the same sample dates, locations, and roles. Ask each team member to record which step they completed, what evidence they saw, and who owns anything left open. A test is useful when another person can repeat it from those notes. If a field comes from a separate tool, identify where it lives and how staff reconcile the two records.
Before choosing a vendor, replay the changed start date and the wrong service location. Compare how easily staff can find the old value, see the correction, and understand what still needs attention. Those two exceptions reveal handoff work that a smooth walkthrough can miss. The IOP and PHP workflow and multi-location buyer guide cover follow-up tests for programs that receive the patient.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should a detox center test in an EHR demo?
Use one fictional detox episode. Record the receiving program, the transfer dates, the prior notes the receiving team needs, and the approval that covers the first visit. Then verify that billing can trace the first encounter to the correct program, location, and service.
How many facilities reported detox, residential treatment, and IOP?
Of 3,127 included 2024 SAMHSA facility records that reported detoxification, 448 (14.3%) also reported both short- or long-term non-hospital residential substance use treatment and intensive outpatient treatment.
Does the survey show where patients actually went after detox?
The public-use answers describe services reported for a facility record. They do not follow individual patients, track transfers or measure whether a receiving program had an opening.
How can I test an outside referral in a detox EHR demo?
Make the receiving provider external and keep its acceptance pending. Ask where staff can find the sent summary, the named follow-up owner, and the confirmation once it arrives.
