Software and Web Resources

There is another Solo Shrink. It is intended for small private practice mental health providers to exchange ideas and information. It is a closed group and is classified as an adult site due to the nature and possible sensitivity of the posted materials. If licensed mental health providers are interested in joining, it is located at http://groups.google.com/Solo-Shrink

The following is a listing of software and web resources that might be of use to such a practitioner that I have previously posted in that group:

I ran across the following area on the Microsoft site:
http://www.microsoft.com/industry/healthcare/provider.mspx
It is worth looking at though I have not explored it thoroughly yet. MS usually provides solutions for larger organizations, but from the titles, some of the topics might be of use in a small practice.

I have listed some sources for mental health, diagnostic, clinical record, and practice management software that I have come across in my searches. Some allow trial downloads or free CD trial versions. I am not recommending any specific program, just listing several that some of us might find useful. They are arranged in no particular order.
Psychology Resources for the Palm Pilot: http://www.eicd.com/Default.htm
Emotions Manager 2000: http://www.download.com/Emotions-Manager/3000-2129_4-10160533.html
Health and Nutrition - Reviews and free downloads at Download.com: http://www.download.com/Health-Nutrition/3150-2129_4-0.html?tag=nav_dir
Billing and Practice Management software list of manufacturers and reviews with live URLs to all: http://www.webenet.com/practicesoftware.htm
HIPAA Notices of Policies and Practices to Protect Privacy of PHI: http://www.webenet.com/hipaa.htm
Psychological Assessment and Testing Resources: http://www.assessmentpsychology.com/resources.htm
IQ Resources: http://www.assessmentpsychology.com/iq.htm
Personality Resources: http://www.assessmentpsychology.com/personality.htm
Online Psychological and Medical Tests: http://www.assessmentpsychology.com/onlinetests.htm
Emergency Medicine at NCEMI-Algorithms, Calculators, Medical Searches, Pill IDs, Practice Guidelines, Medical Terms, and Abbreviations, e-Texts, Image Finder, Etc.: http://www.ncemi.org/
Saner Software Client Billing and Insurance Claims: http://www.shrinkrapt.com/
Helper (Including Therapist Helper, Quick Doc, TheraScribe, and more.) http://www.helper.com/therapist/quickdoc.htm
More resources will be added, as I am able.

Another source of general online hosting and small business application recommendations is from Yahoo.com:
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources/article.php?mcid=7&scid=33&a...


While rummaging around Yahoo, I found that their recommendations regarding the software required for very small businesses/practices matches my idea of putting together bits and pieces of software you may already have to the requirements of the practice you have. If I can sort out the appropriate combination of MS Office Pro 2003 to include all the necessary components, I will try to list all the details. The Yahoo page is:
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources/article.php?mcid=7&scid=33&a...
I also have an older Medical Arts Press program, "Just Claims," which fills out HCFA 1500 forms, remembers insurance numbers and client names, and the details of your practice. This combination may well be all that is required for the smaller than small business needs I have.


I ran across a few more resources and/or programs while systematically and scientifically searching the web (screwing around) that might be of some use to you.
Nullsoft (SafeSex) Sorta Secure Note Taker Application (no save or print features:) http://www.nullsoft.com/free/safesex/ Despite the name and limitations, this is a very small sized, useful application that allows you to make passworded notes which will not reveal themselves to others without reentry of your password. Tried and safe for any Microsoft OS through XP.
Many Resources for Counseling: http://counsellingresource.com/index.shtml
Consumer Medication Information Library from MedLibrary.org: http://medlibrary.org/


FireFox browser 1.5 has come out of final beta and is a great lightweight free browser. http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/
Opera browser has updated to version 8.1 and is also an excellent lightweight free browser. ftp://ftp.the.net/pub/mirror/opera/win/851/en/ow32enen851.exe
EverNote 1.1 is a note program somewhat like Microsoft OneNote. A Free edition and Commercial editions are available. Commercial edition supports "Ink notes." Notes, media, pieces of web pages, etc., can all be used on it. I do not believe that it encrypts, but it can, I think, be password locked. http://www.evernote.com/en/


A free update to EverNote has very recently become available repairing some bugs and making it more functional. You may get this update by clicking the "help" tab on the installed program and then clicking "look for updates." You may also get the full, updated version at http://www.evernote.com/en/


The mother lode of all open source project Open Directory mental health information has been tripped over. I didn't hurt myself this time, though. When I started following links, I tripped out! The Open Directory page for Health: Mental Health: Professional Resources is http://dmoz.org/Health/Mental_Health/Professional_Resources/ to make your searched more general, start with http://dmoz.org/Health/ then go where your interests lead you.


In my web wanderings, I found an interesting medical toolbar sponsored by AstraZeneca. It doesn't appear to contain any spyware and is free at http://www.medilexicon.com/toolbar/ Search capabilities include medical abbreviations, pharmaceutical companies, medical associations, medical articles, ICD-9 Diseases and Injuries, ICD-9 Procedures, ICD-9 Drugs and Chemicals, Drug information, Merck Manual, Med/RX UK Spellchecker, Med/RX US Spellchecker, English dictionary, thesaurus, and Google web search. It has an uninstall feature right on the face of the toolbar or can be hidden when not in use.


Google has just released their free "Google Pack." This is a download of several of their own applications and some indispensable, free applications from other sources. One may download all, or may delete those parts that one already has or does not want. An automatic update feature for all is included. The software that impressed me the most was six months of free Norton AntiVirus 2005 SE. You may read about this pack at IT Vibe http://itvibe.com/news/3846/ , or you may go directly to the download source at Google http://pack.google.com/ . This is good software and, from what I have read very recently, Norton/Symantec AV is one of the few AVs that protects your computer from attacks on the latest critical flaw (yet another buffer overrun) in all editions of MS Operating Systems. This is an important one as MS released an emergency critical patch, out of sequence, and may have more tomorrow for "Patch Tuesday."

Even if you do not want the Google Pack, make sure to run your Windows Update to patch the overrun problem.


Peace, Doc