Halloween may have come and gone, but implementing a new AI solution can be spooky year-round—without the right tips and tricks, that is!
That’s why we brewed up a special treat on our latest webinar. Tracie Del Torto, LCSW, Chief Clinical Officer of Lighthouse Behavioral Wellness Centers, joined several members of the Eleos training and customer success teams to share her real-world experience with implementing behavioral health AI (and there’s no disguise here, it was Eleos 🎃).
The group also dug into the nitty-gritty of a successful AI rollout, including how to:
- Prepare your staff,
- Design a training experience that excites,
- Keep adoption and usage strong, and
- Choose the right partner.
Missed the live webinar? Get the full recording here.
A No-Fright AI Implementation
If you’ve ever rolled out a new EHR, you’re probably downright frightened to bring any new technology into your organization—but it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are some tips for making your AI implementation smoother than spider silk.
Look Out for Ghoulish Partners
When thinking about bringing an AI solution to your staff, it’s important to do your research. You want to align internally and make sure the new technology fits easily into your existing systems. That way, you won’t face as many hurdles as you integrate it into your workflows and train your providers to use it.
The right partner will do their homework and get to know your organization’s needs from the beginning so they understand how to support your team through the entire process—not just until you sign a contract.
“A lot of technology implementations mean learning a totally different system or a new workflow,” Del Torto said. “Eleos was not like that at all. I mean, it was pretty much built into the work that [our clinicians] were already doing.”
At Eleos, this happens during our detailed discovery process, where we carefully assess your org for any potential “gotchas”—both in terms of technology and change management. Our goal is always to address any issues well before go-live.
As Joanie Hudak, Director of Implementation at Eleos, put it, “We want to get to know your workflows, your systems, really how your organization ticks so that we can jump off with our best foot forward.”
Bat Away Extra Work
Another red flag: a partner who asks entirely too much of you. Your team is busy doing the important work of caring for clients; they don’t need any extra tasks on their to-do list.
That’s why, at Eleos, we handle all the heavy lifting of configuring and testing within your existing systems—working closely with your team to ensure everything is set up to meet your specific needs.
“Our ultimate goal is to make implementation as smooth and as seamless as possible, regardless of what systems you’re on,” said Hudak.
Strategic and collaborative change management is the key to starting out on the right foot. So, look for a partner who will work closely with your leaders, IT teams, clinical teams, supervisors, and providers to make sure everyone’s aligned and feeling supported.
Skip the Scares, Choose Expertise
Newer AI players can have a hard time integrating into complex setups or working with other technology partners—especially those they haven’t come across yet.
Having worked with more than 200 organizations across dozens of EHRs, Eleos has plenty of experience in this department. Plus, because our platform is EHR-agnostic and connects through a simple browser extension, the technical side of an Eleos implementation is a super light lift. In fact, the whole implementation process typically takes two to three months, tops.
Make Onboarding Eerie-sistible
Once you’ve decided on a partner, they should work with you to develop an implementation approach aligned to your staff’s needs and expectations. Some teams respond better to optional usage, while others need the push of mandatory adoption.
For Lighthouse, the answer was a no-brainer. Their decision to make Eleos mandatory aligned with the organization’s overall commitment to invest in their people as well as their strategic plan to invest in technology.
“We wanted to find a way to use more technology to be able to create efficiencies in our client care so that we are improving engagement—and also making sure that we’re retaining our clients and supporting their recovery journeys,” said Del Torto.
Training That Makes Clinicians Scream with Delight—Not Terror
Whether serving up a quick summary at the top of your search results or suggesting a recipe based on the items in your fridge, AI is becoming increasingly commonplace in our everyday lives. But many providers haven’t used AI in a clinical capacity—and that can make the whole concept a little scary.
Lay the “Grave-Work” for a Seamless Start
To help your team warm up to the idea—and lay the foundation for consistent usage going forward—we recommend taking a short and sweet training approach that’s tailored to their unique needs and learning styles.
At Eleos, this starts with a pre-training user survey and other prep work that allows our team to align the training content to your staff’s preferences. Then, we schedule a short 2-3 hour training session the same day as go-live. This helps your organization capitalize on initial staff excitement while also minimizing knowledge loss.
“If you know anything about training and development, you know that people start forgetting what they learned if they don’t get to put it to use immediately,” explained Christina Stewart, Training Lead at Eleos. “So we try to minimize that as much as possible.”
Bring the Hype—Not the Horror
Another way to get your team on board with the idea of a new AI tool is to create enthusiasm around the rollout. At Lighthouse, a kickoff celebration and staff contest helped fuel early adoption and excitement.
These kinds of efforts help make the implementation feel less like a chore and more like a positive change—one that’ll make providers’ lives a whole lot easier.
Calm the Cauldron of Change
If any staff members are still resistant to change or hesitant to use Eleos with their clients, we offer resources to help you get them more comfortable—including information on data security, guidance on handling client consent, and more.
And the hands-on involvement shouldn’t stop there. Your AI partner should provide ongoing support to keep the momentum going. At Eleos, we offer asynchronous learning options and dedicated customer success teams, so your team doesn’t leave the training session empty-handed.
A Tool They Won’t Ghost
When you first roll out new AI software, your providers are essentially in the “talking” phase of the relationship—when it’s easy to get ghosted. 👻 To ensure they reach the point where they love the tool and want to “DTR” (define the relationship), you need a partner who prioritizes open communication.
Support That Never Dies
Having access to a responsive support team, even for small issues or quick questions, can make a huge difference in building staff confidence with the tool and getting them more comfortable using it day-to-day.
Eleos provides live chat and email support Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern—plus 24/7 access to a variety of help resources. This level of support was crucial to moving the Lighthouse team from feeling intimidated by AI to not being able to imagine their jobs without it. In fact, they have a 93% satisfaction rating with Eleos.
On top of our incredible tech support, we equip each customer organization with an Eleos Dashboard (which provides real-time data on things like usage, time saved, and staff satisfaction) as well as a Customer Success team focused on driving long-term success with the product. This team continually monitors usage, reports on key performance indicators (KPIs), communicates essential updates to your staff, and aligns your internal teams so everyone stays on the same page.
“Our ongoing customer success support isn’t just about troubleshooting and making sure that the tech is working well,” said Katie Prawitt-Thomas, Customer Success Manager at Eleos. “It’s really about partnership and ensuring that Eleos continues to grow with your organization over time.”
The Magic Starts at the Top
Another important piece of the puzzle is leadership buy-in. When leaders position a new technology to their teams as a value-add that can transform their work-life balance and improve client outcomes, it goes a long way. And as Prawitt-Thomas explains, “Adoption naturally follows.”
Fright to Insight: Listening That Builds Trust
Trust happens when staff feel heard. With any new software, there will be bumps in the road. The key is choosing a partner who listens to your team’s concerns and feedback—and takes action accordingly.
“We take your feedback to heart,” said Hudak. “We’ll send out a customer satisfaction survey, and we encourage our partners to provide open, honest feedback. We love receiving that feedback because we are then able to build it into our process.”
Eleos also gathers feedback in real time as providers complete their notes; then, we use it to identify opportunities for improving our technology and user support.
“All of our enhancements, new products, and everything we create at Eleos comes from conversations we have with our customers,” said Prawitt-Thomas. “We really see you all as partners and want to better serve you and the work that you’re doing.”
From Boo to Breakthrough: Real Results from Real Providers
When you put all of those tricks into action, treats (a.k.a. great results) are sure to follow. But don’t just take our word for it…
Lighthouse went live with Eleos about six months ago, and since then:
- Clinicians have used Eleos Documentation to write over 40,000 progress notes;
- Documentation time decreased by 77%, resulting in over 8,000 hours saved;
- They’re approaching 100% adoption across all eligible users; and
- Those team members are reporting 93% satisfaction with the tool.
These numbers are impressive, but the real win is the improved staff morale and overall organizational culture. Team members are reporting that they:
- Have time for breaks between sessions;
- Don’t have to work on their notes in the evenings; and
- Can focus more on their family and their own well-being.
“To hear our team say things like, ‘I have my nights and weekends back,’ and, ‘I can go on vacation and not worry about this cloud of notes that I have to finish when I get back,’ I just can’t say enough as a leader about what it means to hear those things from our staff,” said Del Torto.
To keep the momentum going, Lighthouse leadership closely monitors the analytics available on their Eleos Dashboard, keeping an eye out for dips in adoption and celebrating their Eleos superusers.
“Looking back or thinking about other leaders [considering rolling out an AI tool], I would definitely say go for it, because it is definitely worth the time and the investment,” said Del Torto.
Brewing Up Your Own Successful AI Rollout
Getting ready to embark on your own AI implementation journey? Here’s our tried-and-true recipe for success:
- Send a positive message from the top down. When your leaders are engaged, project a unified message, and really champion the vision for how AI will make your team’s lives easier, that buy-in trickles down through the entire organization.
- Get all your ducks in a row before you go live. Hash out all the details of your implementation—and clearly communicate expectations to staff—before you kick off your training. If providers go into the onboarding process confused, they’re less likely to embrace the change—and that can hinder adoption.
- Don’t let fear steer. It’s natural to be afraid of the unknown, and most providers and clients have little to no experience using AI as part of the care process. But as Tracie and the Lighthouse team proved, pushing past that initial fear is well worth the potential gains.
- Choose a partner, not just a product. Do your research and make sure you choose an AI partner who meets your organization’s needs and checks all the right boxes (like HIPAA compliance, SOC2 and ISO 42001 certifications, and behavioral health-specific models).
For even more insights, download our comprehensive guide to implementing behavioral health AI.
Thinking about implementing an innovative AI solution in your organization? Our team would love to walk you through our rollout process and all the ways Eleos will be there for you every step of the way. Request a demo to get started.
