DAP, BIRP or SOAP? AI progress notes for behavioral health

Behavioral health documentation has its own language. Therapists write DAP, BIRP, GIRP, SOAP or PIE notes depending on their training, their organization and their payers. An AI scribe that only knows medical SOAP notes isn't enough.

Choosing a format

DAP (Data, Assessment, Plan) is concise and popular in outpatient therapy. BIRP (Behavior, Intervention, Response, Plan) emphasizes the clinician's interventions and the client's response — valuable for payer review. SOAP remains common in psychiatry and integrated care. Murphi supports all of them, and teams can set a default per clinician or program.

Capturing what payers look for

Behavioral health notes are frequently audited for medical necessity. That means documenting the interventions used (for example, CBT or cognitive restructuring), the client's response, progress toward treatment-plan goals, and risk assessment. Murphi structures each of these from the session conversation so they're never left out.

Risk is never optional

Every note should reflect suicide and harm-to-others risk screening, even when negative. Murphi prompts for risk documentation and flags any concerning statements for clinician review before the note is signed.

Session length and codes

Psychotherapy codes depend on session length — 90832, 90834, 90837. Murphi records session duration and suggests the matching code, reducing both undercoding and denials.

Privacy and presence

Many therapists worry that documentation technology will make clients feel observed. In practice, ambient capture often does the opposite: clinicians stop typing during sessions and give clients their full attention. Clear consent and transparent explanation are essential.

The right note format is the one your team and payers trust. The right tool writes it for you — accurately — so you can stay present in the session.