Overview
The demand for Home and Community-Based Services continues to grow due to the retirement of the baby boomers and their wish to age in place. Industry watchers expect the elderly population to cross 80 million in 2050. Care in the home will continue to evolve in the breadth and complexity of services offered, along with an enhanced care model driven by an integrated system of services with seamless transitions. Demand for home-based services will provide many opportunities for home care agencies to grow. Even with the growth potential, it has never been more challenging to be a home care agency. Labor shortages, wage increases, reimbursement cuts, and regulatory cuts are some of the challenges home care agencies face.
Home care agencies that serve patients and referral sources across the continuum of need will have the advantage of thriving and growing. In addition to offering traditional home care services such as Home Health, Private Duty Nursing, and Non-Medical services, agencies should expand the services by providing Outpatient Therapy at Homes and Mental Health Services at Home. Home Care Agencies should also consider payer diversification strategies to broaden the payer mix.
Expanding services and payer mix pose additional challenges to home care agencies. Agencies should leverage technology and software platforms to do more with less and improve operation efficiency. An integrated home care software platform that can handle multiple services and payers will help agencies to manage their operations efficiently and overcome the challenges posed by the labor shortage, wage increases, and reimbursement cuts.
This blog will discuss the benefits of an integrated Home Care Software Platform for an agency with multiple services and payers.
Benefits of an Integrated Home Care Software Platform
1.ONE Software ONE Patient ONE Employee
One of the challenges for home care agencies providing more than one home-based service with multiple payers is finding the right software platform to meet the needs of all lines of service. They use various software solutions or one suitable for one service, not others. Even when they use the same software for multiple lines of service, they set up a separate patient for each line of service. Setting up multiple patients leads to redundant data entry and additional manual efforts to maintain the information. Clinical and financial information are saved in different accounts for the patients preventing home care agencies from getting a consolidated view of the patient.
When employees provide services for different lines of service, agencies are forced to duplicate the same employee for each line of service. This leads to many inefficiencies and manual efforts in scheduling, overtime calculation, and processing payroll.
A software platform that supports all home-based services under ONE Software, ONE Patient, and ONE Employee will be essential to improve efficiencies in all aspects of home care agency management.
2. Scalability
Demand for home-based services will present many opportunities for home care agencies to grow. Agencies can grow by expanding across geographic locations, offering additional services, and diversifying payers. An integrated home care software that can accommodate multiple services and payers will help agencies take advantage of the opportunities in a timely manner without implementing a software solution for each service.
3. Scheduling Efficiency
An integrated home care software with ONE Patient and ONE Employee across multiple services will significantly improve scheduling efficiency. A consolidated view of schedules for patients and employees will eliminate duplicate schedules for patients and employees. Using ONE employee across multiple services will combine the time for all services for overtime calculation and reduce overall payroll costs. Efficient scheduling will improve employees' productivity, leading to improved revenue for agencies. Scheduling efficiency will also improve employee and patient satisfaction.
4. Quality of Care
An integrated home care software platform will provide a consolidated clinical view across multiple services. Access to clinical documents for other disciplines and services at the point of care will provide a holistic clinical view for the patient leading to improved care planning and quality of care. One software for all services will significantly improve communication across care teams, improving outcomes and patient safety. Transitioning care from one service to another will be more efficient with one software for all services.
5. Billing Efficiency
An integrated home care software will make billing for all services and payers easier, significantly improving billing efficiency. Comprehensive billing functions will meet all disparate and complex billing requirements for Medicare, Medicaid, Managed Care, Private Insurance, and Private Pay under ONE Patient improving cash flow. Using one software for all services will enable agencies to send one private pay statement for insurance copayments and private pay services. A consolidated financial view and reporting will make Revenue Cycle Management functions more efficient.
6. Reduce Cost and Improve Bottom Line
An integrated home care software for multiple services will reduce training and maintenance costs for home care agencies. One software for all services will allow agencies to do more with less by eliminating duplicate data entry and errors. Efficiencies gained in scheduling will improve employee productivity and reduce overall payroll costs. Billing efficiencies will lead to a quicker turnaround for claim payments improving cash flow. Reduction in cost and improved cash flow will improve the bottom line for home care agencies.
Conclusion
An integrated home care software platform will significantly improve operational efficiency for home care agencies and help them grow despite the challenges posed by the labor shortage, reimbursement cuts, and other factors.
ABOUT CAREVOYANT
CareVoyant is a leading provider of cloud-based integrated enterprise-scale home health care software that can support all home-based services under ONE Software, ONE Patient, and ONE Employee, making it a Single System of Record. We support all home based services, including Home Care, Private Duty Nursing, Private Duty Non-Medical, Home and Community Based Services (HCBS), Home Health, Pediatric Home Care, and Outpatient Therapy at Home.
CareVoyant functions – Intake, Authorization Management, Scheduling, Clinical with Mobile options, eMAR/eTAR, Electronic Visit Verification (EVV), Billing/AR, Secure Messaging, Notification, Reporting, and Dashboards – streamline workflow, meet regulatory requirements, improve quality of care, optimize reimbursement, improve operational efficiency and agency bottom line.
For more information, please visit CareVoyant.com or call us at 1-888-463-6797.
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