Enhance Patient Safety: Strategies for Effective Medication Management in Home Health Care Agencies. Explore best practices to ensure accurate and secure medication administration.
This blog will discuss some essential features a Home Health Care Software should have to effectively manage medications at patients' homes.
Overview
The demand for home and community-based care will continue to grow due to the continued aging of baby boomers, the preference of the elderly populations to age at home, and continued pressure to reduce the overall cost of healthcare. In 2023, the home care industry was valued at $96.08 billion. By 2030, the home care industry is projected to grow to $156.28 billion due to changes in the geriatric population, an increase in chronic conditions, and the overall affordability of home care instead of in-patient care.
Physicians are more comfortable prescribing mental health, therapy, and other higher-skilled services, such as respiratory care, wound care, cardiological conditions, and orthopedics, to patients at home. New delivery models such as SNF at Home and Hospital at Home are coming into play. Acute care and skilled nursing facilities are looking to partner with home health care agencies to transition more care to patients' homes.
More than 40 percent of older Americans regularly take five or more prescription drugs, and nearly 20 percent take ten or more, according to a 2020 report from the nonpartisan think tank Lown Institute. When over-the-counter medicines and supplements are factored in, the share of older adults popping five or more pills — a practice known as polypharmacy — shoots up to 67 percent. When patients receive higher acuity care at home, medication management becomes a critical aspect of providing quality and safe care.
Home healthcare agencies should leverage technology and Home Healthcare Software to manage medications for patients effectively. The right Home Care Software and technology will help clinicians keep accurate lists of medications, educate patients & caregivers, monitor medication administration, and improve patient safety and outcomes.
Essential Software Features for Medication Management
Medication Management is critical to providing quality and safe home health care for patients. Effective medication management will help clinicians keep accurate lists of medications, educate patients & caregivers, monitor medication administration, and improve patient safety and outcomes.
Most healthcare professionals, especially nurses, know the “five rights” of medication use: the right patient, the right drug, the right time, the right dose, and the right route. The five rights serve as a standard for safe medication management and administration.
Home Health Care Agencies will benefit from implementing a Home Health Care EMR software that will help them to get the “five rights” correct each time, improving operational efficiency, quality of care, and patient safety.
The following are some of the essential features of Home Health Care EMR Software to support medication management.
Patient Medication Profile
The Home Healthcare Software platform should be able to keep all the medications, prescribed, over-the-counter, and supplements, in one place. The consolidated Medication List will allow nurses to reconcile medications easily upon initial assessment and before discharge. It will also make it easier for nurses to record changes to medications (new medications, dosage changes, or discontinued) when they happen. A single medication list for a patient will also make it easier to produce a Drug or Medication Profile for a patient when needed.
Standard Medication Database
The Home Health Care Software platform should have an integrated standard medication database of all medications. A standard medication database will make it easy for clinicians to enter the drugs and reduce data entry errors. A standard medication database will also help the clinicians check for drug alerts for all the medications in one place. The Home Care Software should also be able to maintain drugs or supplements that may not be available in the standard database.
Drug Alerts and Education Materials
The Home Health Care Software platform should be able to check for drug alerts when medications are entered or changed. The standard medication database should provide drug-to-drug, drug-to-food, and drug allergy alerts for all medications in the patient profile. Drug databases should also include patient education materials for clinicians to review and educate patients and caregivers.
Documentation at Point of Care
The Home Health Care Software platform should allow clinicians to review and document the medications at the point of care. A complete list of medications at the point of care will help clinicians educate the patient and the caregiver at the patient's home. Nurses should be able to document the results of their education to the patient and the caregiver. They should also be able to document how the patient responds to the drug and if there are adverse reactions. Access to drug alerts and education materials at the point of care will help.
Integrated
The Home Health Care Software platform should be able to enter the medications as part of the patient profile and make them available at the point of care and other places. The ability to make medication changes at the point of care will be crucial to help clinicians review the medication list regularly, improve the accuracy of patients’ medication lists, and reduce medication errors. Access to drug alerts, patient education materials, and past documentation will improve patient outcomes. Integrated medication management will significantly improve nurses' ease of use.
Conclusion
Medication management is an ongoing process for patients receiving skilled care at home. Home healthcare agencies should implement the right Home Health Care Software platform with the tools to document administration effectively. CareVoyant understands the demanding needs of providing skilled care for medically fragile patients at home. CareVoyant Home Care software platform offers the right technology and tools to help Home Care Agencies with effective medication management to improve patient safety, operational efficiency, and the agency's bottom line.
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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