Frequently Asked Questions
What is HerdmanHealth?
HerdmanHealth is a cloud-based assessment platform powered by the innovative Herdman Assessment Form (HAF), designed to help behavioral health professionals work smarter, not harder. The tool organizes patient history intuitively and automatically generates the assessment narrative, saving counselors 1 to 2 hours per assessment. This means less time spent on documentation and more time focused on client care. HerdmanHealth improves accuracy, enhances compliance, and supports consistent, high-quality reporting — whether you’re in private practice or a large agency. Start your free 30-day trial and experience how HerdmanHealth can save your team time, reduce administrative burden, and support long-term success.
How does HerdmanHealth save you time and money?
HerdmanHealth streamlines the assessment process by allowing counselors to send clients a secure link to complete the history section of the HAF remotely, before the in-person or telehealth appointment. This eliminates the need for counselors to ask and manually enter responses to routine background questions, saving valuable time during the interview. Many answers are auto-filled based on client input and can be easily reviewed or adjusted by the counselor as needed. Once the assessment is complete, HerdmanHealth generates a high-quality, 4–6 page narrative report instantly — eliminating hours of writing and formatting. The result is faster, more accurate documentation and a more efficient workflow that saves both time and money for your practice. In fact, HerdmanHealth pays for itself in the amount of time it saves you in just one assessment.
Does the HerdmanHealth assessment make a diagnosis?
No. HerdmanHealth does not generate or assign a diagnosis. It is the counselor’s responsibility to review and verify the client’s responses, ask any necessary clarifying questions, and use their clinical judgment to determine an accurate diagnosis. The counselor must also formulate the rationale for the diagnosis and make appropriate recommendations, including determining the level of care needed. While HerdmanHealth streamlines the assessment process and provides a comprehensive report, all final clinical decisions remain in the hands of the treating professional.
How do I register myself or my agency?
Go to www.HerdmanHealth.com and click on Try Now. Register your organization. In Setup verify all fields in the Organization TAB. In the Users TAB add the email address for new users and indicate if user is also an administrator.
How is the Assessment Form organized?
To get started with administering the Assessment Form, the General Info TAB must be completed. In order to request that the client complete the history sections of the Assessment Form remotely, the fields in red MUST be completed in order to send the client a link to complete the sections before the assessment interview. The client can also complete the history sections immediately prior to the interview in the office if not completed remotely prior to the interview. The other fields in the General Info TAB are either completed remotely by the client or completed by the counselor during the assessment interview.
The TAB has eight sections to be completed by the client either remotely, in office or during the assessment interview. There are eight additional TABs for the counselor only. The TABs are explained here.
Are any items automatically entered?
Yes. When appropriate, data in the General Info TAB are auto-entered in other TABs thus saving additional time. Some questions are answered as Yes or NO 90+% of the time and thus are automatically entered. As necessary, these items can be changed to reflect the individual’s personal history.
What do I need to be aware of when completing the sections of the Assessment Form?
In the General Info TAB-Social Security Number – Enter the client Social Security Number as 123-45-6789 (dashes needed to ensure consistency when searching the data base); if none enter 000-00-0000 and explain in your narrative.
- Demographic Information.
- Presenting Problem/Primary Complaint.
- Medical History.
- Education, Employment and Military History
- Drug and Alcohol History.
- Legal History
- Family History.
- Behavioral Health History
- ASAM Criteria
- Diagnosis/Summary/Recommendations
In the Demographic Information TAB.
What was your current age on the moment of the last information update? | DI.2 This field is auto-calculated by taking the current date minus the date of birth to calculate the current age at the time of the last information update. |
In the Presenting Problem/Primary Complaint TAB.
When were you first referred to have this assessment? | PP.1 The intent of this question is to capture the length of time between the date the client was first referred and the current date. |
What is the PRIMARY reason for your having this assessment? | PP.2 Enter the client’s words for his or her primary problem or primary complaint |
What led you/motivated you to schedule this evaluation? | PP.3 Enter the client’s own words for what led him or her to schedule the appointment. |
All other items in this section are self-explanatory.
In the Medical History TAB.
All items in this section are self-explanatory.
In the Education, Employment and Military History TAB.
All items in this section are self-explanatory.
In the Drug and Alcohol History TAB.
For every substance a client has ever used, the client makes a rank order of those substances. For each substance used there is a Comments Field. The counselor uses this field to write a history of the client’s use that captures the individual patterns for frequency and amounts used. This is where there is documentation of tolerance, withdrawal and periods of abstinence. Individual patterns of use justify the diagnosis of a substance use disorder. Usually a client has a primary drug of choice (ranked #1 and likely the primary diagnosis). There may be additional substances used that will justify additional diagnoses. Often there are substances used one time or rarely and have never met criteria for a substance use disorder. The counselor notes this in the Comments field.
All other items in this section are self-explanatory.
In the Legal History TAB.
Note – To save time, all items from LE.3 to LE.23 are defaulted to “No” and must be changed to “Yes” if appropriate.
All other items in this section are self-explanatory.
In the Family History TAB.
Note – To save time, all items from FH.18.1 to FH.18.12 are defaulted to “Yes” and must be changed to “No” or “n/a” if appropriate. “n/a” should be used if there has been no contact with the person identified in the past 30 days or if never in a lifetime.
Note – To save time, all items from FH.19.1 to FH.19.18 are defaulted to “No” and must be changed to “Yes” or “n/a” if appropriate. “n/a” should be used if there has been no contact with the person identified in the past 30 days or if never in a lifetime.
In the Behavioral Health History TAB.
Note – To save time, all items from BH.4 to BH.21 are defaulted to “No” and must be changed to “Yes”, if appropriate.
In the ASAM Criteria TAB.
ASAM Criteria ratings are often required when completing substance use evaluations. As a time saver for the counselor a Table is offered that allows the rating of 0 to 4 for each of the six dimensions of the ASAM Criteria. There is a Field for Counselor for the counselor to type a narrative rational for the rating provided
In the Diagnosis/Summary/Recommendations TAB.
This TAB is offered again to save the counselor time in formatting and typing for each evaluation report.
In the Diagnosis section the counselor provides the DSM-5 code for the Primary Diagnosis; then, in the Additional Diagnoses section the counselor provides additional diagnoses or rule outs for each client.
In the Summary and Rationale section the first paragraph is auto-populated from the Reason for Referral. The counselor now provides the summary of the pertinent findings from the assessment and provides a rationale for the diagnosis. Often the counselor will cite the criteria met from the DSM-5 for each diagnosis made.
In the Recommendations section the counselor is offered a checklist of recommendation options, All levels of care from the ASAM Criteria are listed along with some other frequently used recommendations that may be pertinent to a client’s care.
NOTE in the Agency/Counselor Setup there is the ability to add your favorite recommendations to the list already offered. Go to Setup and click on Manage Recommendations. Click on Add New Recommendations then type in the new recommendation and click add new recommendation. There you can also delete recommendations you may never use.
Address
Lincoln, NE
info@herdmanhealth.com