Discover how improving care team communication can lead to better quality of care, fostering collaboration and efficiency in healthcare delivery.
This blog will review communication inefficiencies that many Home Health Care Agencies experience and suggest seven solutions to enhance care team communication and improve quality of care.
Overview
Demand for home health care services is growing. 12 Million Americans receive some form of home health care every year. Additionally, just as resources are becoming more limited, Home Health Care Agencies are faced with the challenge of making operations more efficient whilst simultaneously improving patient outcomes.
Efficient care team coordination can relieve some of these challenges. Using separate communication tools can lead to poor communication between caregivers, clinicians, administrative staff, physicians, and patients. If messaging, eFax, and charting tools are provided through disparate means, communication becomes inefficient and there is more risk of creating HIPAA-compliance issues and information silos.
Connecting the care team under ONE Home Care Software will lead to improved patient satisfaction, more productive employees, enhanced compliance with regulatory requirements, and more successful patient outcomes. An integrated Home Care Software that enables enhanced care team communication doesn’t just view messaging and eFax as the only communication tools Home Health Care Agencies use; it also considers access to patient information and streamlining workflow tasks as part of the care team’s communication tools.
Communication Challenges for Home Health Care Agencies
Most Home Health Care Agencies use email, text, phone, or even paper notes to communicate with physicians, staff, and patients. In addition to the Home Care EMR Software an agency is using, separate communication tools will ensure that clinicians are spending more time and effort collecting all current patient information. Inevitably, disparate communication tools lead to inefficiencies in both communication and care, negatively impacting patient outcomes.
The following are just some of the communication challenges home care agencies face:
1. Information Silos
For most Home Health Care Agencies, patient information is dispersed throughout emails, texts, paper notes, and the agency’s EMR system. When a patient’s clinical and communication information are kept on different platforms, this leads to silos of information that create inefficiencies in care. As more information is collected and communicated over time, pulling all the information together becomes a daunting task, leading Home Care Agencies into a vicious cycle of inefficient care and communication.
ONE Home Care Software that integrates communication and care tools eliminates data silos and makes collecting and maintaining current patient information fast and efficient.
2. Potential HIPAA Issues
There is always potential for sending the Protected Health Information (PHI) of patients to the wrong places when using email or text. Text messages are saved on employee devices, and there is always the possibility of emails being saved to local drives on traveling laptops. When employees leave the agency, PHI often leaves with them. This violates HIPAA regulations, regardless of intent.
Home Health Care Software with integrated HIPAA-compliant messaging reduces the probability of not keeping up with HIPAA requirements.
3. Access
All too often, Home Health Care Agencies find it difficult to view and provide access to all Clinical information and messages at the Point Of Care. Employee productivity and patient care suffer because of the time-intensive data gathering a clinician must do to prepare for a visit.
Data communication is just as important as communication between care team members.
4. Changes in Care
When schedule changes are made, not having current and complete information on patients and employees leads to inadequate or missed visits. Being unable to communicate changes to medication, treatment, care plans, and care preferences in real-time can be detrimental to an agency’s overall care quality.
Real-time schedule alerts, communication, and clinical documentation lowers the chance of mistakes being made.
5. Missed Tasks
Many Home Care Agencies find it challenging to track if employees showed up for and completed a shift on time, and whether any tasks were missed during their shift. Often times, it only comes to light later, when the patient is dissatisfied with service, that employees were not showing up for their shifts or completing all necessary tasks.
Configurable validations, real-time alerts, and schedule monitoring allows Home Care Agencies to communicate with field staff without interruption of services.
Communication Tools for Home Health Care Agencies
Effective communication can be achieved through integrated Home Care Software that understands a Home Health Care Agency’s need to put clinicians and patients first. Home Health Care Agencies would benefit from taking a holistic view of their communication needs before selecting Home Health Care Software that will meet their requirements.
The following seven communication tools geared towards improving communication and quality of care are essential in a comprehensive Home Health Care Software.
1. Secure Messaging
An integrated, HIPAA-compliant, and internal messaging application are essential to efficient communication and care.
Messages should only be viewed by users, employees, and patients.
Messages should be saved and remain within the application.
Messages are not sent over the internet or stored on local POC devices.
The messaging application has one area to view all messages and notifications.
The messaging application enables users to initiate a message from any data entry screen.
Push notifications and email reminders are available when new messages arrive to keep care team members up to date with care changes in real time.
2. Communication Logs
While providing patient care, it is normal to have conversations with patients, employees, care team members, and external healthcare professionals regarding patient care, scheduling preferences, and billing options.
Conversations regarding care should be recorded within the application.
Staff should have the ability to attach care conversations to patient and/or employee profiles.
Conversations should be logged and viewed in one area.
Access to communication logs should be limited based on the employee’s role, remaining HIPAA-compliant.
3. Schedule Reminders and Monitoring
With a high volume of shifts and visits to manage, it is essential for Home Care Agencies to utilize Home Care Software that tracks schedule requirements and changes.
Schedule reminders should be sent to patients and employees the day before the visit.
Schedule changes should be communicated in real-time to patients and employees.
Real-time schedule monitoring should ensure that shifts and visits start on time.
Schedule monitoring should also ensure that all assigned tasks are completed by the end of the shift.
4. Changes in Care
While providing care, there will be changes to the care based on the effectiveness of medications and treatments and based on the patient’s condition and care preferences.
Any adjustments in medications, treatments, and care plan should be communicated via the Home Care Software application.
Changes should be pushed to the Point Of Care in real-time.
5. Holistic Patient View
Clinicians should have a holistic view of the patient at the Point Of Care to keep up to date with any new changes in a patient’s care routine.
Patient information, schedules, medications, care plan, and clinical notes should be accessible without having to frequently switch screens.
All relevant information should be available both before and during the shift.
Clinical information should be easy to access and update during the shift.
Secure messaging and communication logs should be easily accessible to the clinician.
6. Portals
Integrated Family and Employee Portals will be very useful to communicate with the patient, the patient's family, and employees.
Portals should provide access to schedules and care information for patients, families, and relevant employees.
Portals should be integrated into the Home Care Software platform.
7. Workflow Tasks
Integrated workflow tasks help clinicians and administrative staff complete tasks in an organized, timely manner to improve productivity and quality of care.
Workflow tasks should act as a to do list for clinicians and caregivers
Tasks should be attached to a patient or visit
Once tasks are completed, they should automatically be sent to someone who will review and verify that the task is complete.
Conclusion
Many Home Health Care Agencies face communication challenges that inhibit their operational efficiency and bottom line. The right Home Health Care Software should have built-in tools to make care team communication more efficient and effective.
Having access to complete, current, and precise information in real time helps clinicians and caregivers get a holistic view of patient conditions, enabling them to adjust and improve their treatment plan whenever necessary whilst avoiding interruption of services. Effective and holistic communication improves operational efficiency, employee productivity, patient satisfaction, and quality of care.
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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