in: Home Health Care, Company News
A home healthcare software system can help your agency overcome many of the challenges associated with providing comprehensive care to frail and elderly patients. Home healthcare offers the promise of compassionate, at-home care for the most vulnerable and at-risk patients. However, without the right software in place, your agency may struggle to provide care for all of your high-risk patients, especially during this time of the global pandemic.
Home Healthcare Is Effective
The demand for skilled home healthcare continues to grow. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a five-year study showed that home healthcare reduced emergency room visits, 30-day readmissions, and hospitalizations for people receiving home healthcare. This saved an average of $2,700 per year per patient and improved patient satisfaction.
Emerging trends in home healthcare also include the rapid adoption and reimbursement of telehealth services. The COVID-19 pandemic has proven to insurance agencies and clinicians that telehealth appointments are just as useful for many patients as in-person visits.
Additionally, more families are seeking to care for their loved ones at home. The threat of rapidly spreading COVID infections in nursing homes and other healthcare facilities has made many people aware of home healthcare availability as a viable option for inpatient treatment.
That’s good news for home healthcare agencies. However, as your business and client base grows, managing patient information through spreadsheets and paper-based forms becomes increasingly untenable. Instead, home healthcare software offers an improved ability to scale your business, communicate with patients and caregivers, and manage staff with ease.
Challenges Solved through Home Healthcare Software System
Growth is, of course, good news, but with growth comes challenges. Common challenges faced by home healthcare agencies include:
- Respecting patient preferences
- Addressing home healthcare clinicians’ concerns
- Building the right infrastructure
- Keeping patients safe
- Adhering to regulations
- Respecting Patient Preferences While Providing Expert Care
Some patients prefer receiving home healthcare, while others prefer to visit clinicians in their offices. For example, home healthcare agencies may face resistance from patients who have had negative experiences with other home healthcare agencies. Patients may also have concerns about allowing caregivers into their homes or similar privacy issues.
Home healthcare software systems can be used to help alleviate some of these patient concerns. For example, by finding a caregiver that patients respond well to, you can use the system’s scheduling tools to ensure the same caregiver visits this patient each time.
Another way to use home healthcare software to alleviate patient concern over privacy is to demonstrate how your company performs background checks on caregivers. Knowing that each caregiver is thoroughly screened and their visits tracked and monitored may reassure fearful patients who have had negative experiences with other agencies or caregivers.
- Addressing clinician concerns
On the other side of the equation are home healthcare clinicians, who often see five or more patients per day. These clinicians may find it challenging to juggle patient records, visit notes, mileage tracking, and the many other administrative tasks associated with home healthcare visits—in addition, of course, to providing excellent onsite care.
This is where home healthcare software systems shine. A cloud-based home healthcare software system enables clinicians to log into the system anywhere they have an internet connection. They can log in patient notes, view past visit histories, send messages to the care team, and perform many other functions related to their visit, all without touching a single piece of paper. It makes all the administrative tasks associated with home healthcare visits faster and easier.
- Building the right infrastructure
Home healthcare agencies are service-based providers. But the unique demands of the profession, the regulatory environment, privacy laws, billing needs, insurance demands, and more create the need for specific industry-focused infrastructure. This infrastructure includes the right home healthcare software system, which enables companies to bill multiple parties, such as Medicare and insurance companies, and communicate with patients, families, and numerous healthcare professionals.
Accounting can be challenging for home healthcare agencies. Multiple locations, tracking payroll for dozens of hourly workers, and tracking for supplies used can be cumbersome. However, with software specifically made for home healthcare agencies, such tracking is a breeze. It’s much easier and faster than using standard small business accounting software or spreadsheets.
- Keeping patients safe
Patient safety is always a top concern for healthcare professionals. Home healthcare agencies may be the primary agency monitoring patient safety. Wearable devices offer a lifeline if patients fall or become incapacitated, and other wearable devices enable clinicians to track vital signs and monitor patients remotely. Such wearables that tie into home healthcare software systems make it much easier for agencies to account for patient safety and be there when needed.
- Adhering to regulations
The regulatory framework guiding patient care and privacy continue to evolve. Still, one thing is sure—patient privacy under the HIPAA privacy guidelines must be adhered to by all healthcare providers. To ensure HIPAA compliance, you need a home healthcare software system that meets HIPAA requirements. For example, Protected Health Information must be secured when created, used, stored, or disclosed on electronic devices. Unauthorized disclosure of patient information must be prevented. The right home healthcare software system includes the proper safeguards and encryption to adhere to privacy laws.
Finding the Right Home Healthcare Software System
In our previous article, Home Healthcare Management Software and the Challenges of Collecting Data, we’ve written at length about the need to find industry-specific home healthcare software and why it is vital to use it instead of spreadsheets or paper-based forms.
Not only will the right home healthcare management software keep patient data safe, but its ability to streamline processes, procedures, billing, and other business tasks saves an enormous amount of time. A few of the many benefits of home healthcare software include:
- Improving data management
- Faster billing of insurance agencies and Medicare (which leads to faster payment and improved cash flow)
- Easier time tracking for workers
- Faster turnaround of payroll, taxes, and related paperwork
- Better communications with patients, families, caregivers
- Efficient appointment scheduling and route planning for home visits
- Stability and consistency for patients
- Telehealth services with encrypted connections to adhere to HIPAA privacy laws
Home healthcare agencies fulfill an essential role in the community. They enable patients to remain at home longer and to recover in the comfort of their homes from illness or accidents. The right software can make it easier for you to manage your healthcare agency, build your clientele, and grow it to a healthy, profitable status.
Mindover Corporation and Home Healthcare Software
Mindover Corporation offers home healthcare agency software that helps agencies streamline their billing, accounting, finances, and related needs. Our home healthcare accounting software saves you considerable time on billing and payroll. It enables you to handle accounting needs for multiple locations. It also helps keeps your company’s accounts updated, so you are ready for an audit.
Your agency can be poised for growth with the right record-keeping, financial records, and accounting data. You already provide expert service and great care for patients. Now is the time to make your accounting as efficient as your patient care. Talk to Mindover Corporation today about home healthcare agency software.
Please contact Mindover Software at 512-990-3994.
