by Terence Blackwell Jr on May 6, 2025
Many service providers who work with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) are considering moving away from paper-based systems or moving to electronic health records (EHRs) that integrate artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. Doing so can deliver significant benefits from automating systems to gaining operational efficiencies at a time when significant staffing challenges are facing IDD providers.
Yet, determining the likely potential operational and efficiency gains is only one part of the technology transition decision. The projected impact of a solution on service quality and revenue management is just as important when building a business case for transitioning to more advanced IDD care software, such as an EHR.
In fact, your technology selection will directly impact how well your organization can coordinate care, maintain a supportive and client-focused environment, and help people with IDD achieve the best outcomes and live their best lives.
When comparing IDD EHR options, consider quality-driving capabilities in the seven areas highlighted below.
7 Ways IDD EHR Use Improves Quality of Services
The right IDD EHR can improve the quality of service, revenue management, and support your organization delivers in important ways.
1. Workflow Support for Evidence-Based Practices
Care workflows underpin care delivery, particularly in the IDD space in which different providers are collaborating to provide consistent, holistic support for people with IDD. However, outdated workflows can quickly strain providers and staff with manual tasks, contributing to higher workloads, frustration, mistakes, and even turnover.
An EHR with built-in evidence-based workflows can automate much of the care delivery and documentation process to save providers’ time and help teams make sound decisions collaboratively. Advanced EHRs, such as Core Solutions’ Cx360 IDD platform, offer a number of pre-designed workflows that care teams can immediately use or customize for their unique needs. Interactive task checklists further automate processes and enable quick communication, ensuring there’s adequate documentation to support billing procedures.
2. AI-Powered Health-Related Social Needs Tracking
People with IDD are more than twice as likely to experience loneliness and isolation, which research shows can lead to other conditions like depression and anxiety. Addressing health-related social needs (HRSN) like loneliness, lack of support systems, housing instability, and others is essential to caring for IDD clients holistically.
When platforms have integrated artificial intelligence (AI)-backed solutions, they can also enable providers to spot client needs earlier and more accurately. The Core Clinician Assist: HRSN Tracking solution can spot HRSN needs and social determinants of health (SDOH) and make these accessible at the point of care to enable more comprehensive, individualized client support.
3. Client Empowerment
Providing person-centered care also requires care teams to engage clients throughout their care journey. Without the right systems in place, however, clients and families can often feel left out of care processes.
An EHR empowers clients, families, and caregivers to become more active participants in the care experience, which can encourage improvements in areas like medication adherence and more effective engagement during sessions. The Cx360 platform’s intuitive interface further empowers clients, families, and caregivers by making it easy for them to schedule appointments from their portal, review educational materials, communicate with their care team, and manage payments.
4. Unified Person-Centered Care Planning
Also crucial to supporting people with IDD is ensuring integrated and cohesive person-centered care planning. This can be challenging given the many individuals involved, from direct service providers (DSPs) and primary care physicians to occupational, behavioral health, and other therapists supporting an individual.
As defined by the Administration for Community Living, person-centered care planning is a process for selecting and organizing the services and supports a person with a disability may need to live and thrive in their community. The person receiving services directs the process, with potential participating individuals including family members, caregivers, and other trusted individuals.
Access to an EHR like the Cx360 platform enables staff to conduct a comprehensive assessment to identify an individual’s needs. Then, the platform can translate each need into a valued outcome, and managers can assign tasks to various care team members to work toward achieving those outcomes.
This kind of automation not only makes the care and support planning process more efficient but also helps minimize the likelihood of missed services with built-in systems of accountability. The result: People with IDD receive better, more seamless person-centered planning that translates to more individualized services.
5. Care Coordination
Holistic IDD support often involves care managers, DSPs, therapists, and a variety of other professionals. This diverse team needs to be able to share information to make sure everyone is on the same page regarding an individual’s needs and services.
An IDD EHR compatible with industry data-sharing standards can facilitate better care coordination among service providers, allowing them to share information securely and in real time. This big-picture view can help reduce errors and oversights, improve communication, and better ensure that individuals receive the appropriate assistance at the right time.
With a complete view of a client's medical and service history, IDD service providers can better identify health risks, manage chronic conditions more effectively, and avoid duplication of services.
6. Documentation and Revenue Cycle Management Support
An IDD EHR also can significantly improve the accuracy, completeness, and timeliness of a service provider’s documentation. The right IDD care software will offer reporting that assists in quickly recording behaviors, interventions, and outcomes, while also providing easy access to assessments within workflows. Automated assistance for more complete, structured, and streamlined documentation can make it easier to capture accurate notes and compare performance against targets.
Over time, improved IDD documentation will provide the most complete picture of an individual’s progress, needs, and overall health, which aids in determining the right interventions.
Additionally, an EHR with embedded revenue cycle management capabilities can track clients throughout their care journey by payer type to ensure claims are accurate and payments are made on time. With customized rules, staff can prevent bad claims from occurring, while accessing financial reports from their bespoke dashboard.
7. Improved Medication Management and Reduced Serious Incident Reporting
The right EHR can be crucial in alerting service providers to potential drug interactions, dosing, and allergies that could lead to harm. IDD care software can assist in monitoring medication adherence, which is essential for individuals with complex medication regimens. Solutions like Core Clinician Assist: Anomaly Detection, for example, can review client progress notes and flag outlying issues like medication mismanagement that can impact outcomes.
This is critical, as research published in Frontiers in Psychiatry notes that IDD clients face a higher risk of medication-related harm and inappropriate prescribing, primarily because these clients often experience co-occurring conditions. With this increased risk at play, it’s essential for providers and clients to ensure effective, safe, and compliant medication management.
Using Core’s Cx360 platform, direct support providers can use automated task triggering and accountability tracking around medication dispensing, refilling prescriptions, and scheduling follow-up appointments with prescribing clinicians.
IDD EHR Effects on Quality of Services
As IDD service providers move away from paper-based systems or antiquated, outdated systems and embrace more advanced IDD technology, the future holds great promise for improved information access and sharing. To position their organizations for long-term success, leaders should explore how advanced technology can help them meet evolving documentation, communication, and workflow demands, which can ultimately improve client experiences and outcomes."
Organizations with a proactive strategy for IDD EHR adoption can dramatically affect capabilities for delivering more effective, safe, and seamless services.
Contact us today for a comprehensive demo of the Cx360 platform and see why our EHR is the platform of choice for a growing number of IDD organizations nationwide.
