Achieve optimal resource management. Learn about the critical Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that empower home care providers to maximize Scheduling and Employee Utilization.

This blog will discuss Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Scheduling and Employee Utilization and why they are critical for effectively managing Home Care Agencies. Future blogs will discuss relevant KPIs for other operational areas in the agency.

Overview

The demand for home and community-based care will grow as more elderly populations prefer to age at home. Even with the growth opportunities, home healthcare providers will face significant headwinds in taking advantage of these opportunities.

Declining reimbursement, labor shortage, increased labor costs, and regulations will significantly pressure home care agencies' operations and bottom line.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can play a crucial role in helping home care agencies to meet these challenges, continue to grow, and improve the bottom line. KPIs can help agencies measure current performance, identify areas for improvement, set operational goals, and ensure the goals are met. Understanding KPIs and selecting appropriate ones for the organization will help agencies improve operational efficiency and meet their growth goals.

The right technology and home health care software will be critical in home care agencies efforts to leverage KPIs to improve their operations.

What is a KPI

A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a measurable or quantifiable value over time used by organizations to measure performance and determine if they are accomplishing their goals.

KPIs are quantifiable measures that provide organizations to measure the current state of their performance, set meaningful goals and milestones to measure progress, and provide insights to employees across the organization to help them make better decisions.

KPIs for Scheduling and Employee Utilization

Scheduling and Employee Productivity KPIs provide information on patient hours, visits, charges, payroll costs, and averages by visit, patient, and employee. Analyzing this information over a period will help home care agencies measure the efficiency of the scheduling operations, identify areas for improvement, and improve scheduling efficiency and employee utilization. The following are some of the key metrics to track.

Key Performance Indicators for Home Care - Scheduling and Employee Utilization

Total Patient Count, Hours, Visits/Shifts

These KPIs represent the total number of patients receiving services from the agency, the number of hours for the services, and the number of visits/shifts for the services for a given period, usually a month or year.

Monitoring Total patients, Hours, and Visits/Shifts will give a home agency a good understanding of the census and revenue over a period. Analyzing these metrics will help home care agencies set goals for future growth in census and revenue. Home Health Care Software should provide reports and dashboards to measure the KPIs by payers, locations, and service lines.

Total Employee Count, Hours, Visits/Shifts

These KPIs represent the total number of employees providing services, employee hours, and employee visits/shifts for a given period, usually a month or year.

Monitoring Total Employees, Employee Hours, and Employee Visits/Shifts will give a home agency a good understanding of the employee count and payroll cost over a period. Analyzing these metrics will help home care agencies set goals for employee recruitment, retention, and managing labor costs. Home Health Care Software should provide reports and dashboards to measure the KPIs by payers, locations, and lines of service.

Hours and Visits/Shifts per Patient

Hours Per Patient is the average number of hours of service per patient provided in a given period. Visits/Shifts per patient is the average number of visits/shifts per patient in a given period. The period is usually a month or a year.

Monitoring and analyzing these KPIs will help home care agencies improve scheduling efficiency and set goals to improve scheduling efficiency. Home Health Care Software should provide reports and dashboards to measure the KPIs by payers, locations, and lines of service.

Hours and Visits/Shifts per Employee

Hours Per Employee is the average number of hours of service per employee provided in a given period. Visits/Shifts per employee is the average number of visits/shifts per employee in a given period. The period is usually a month or a year.

Monitoring and analyzing these KPIs will help home care agencies improve scheduling efficiency and employee productivity and set goals to improve scheduling efficiency and productivity. Home Health Care Software should provide reports and dashboards to measure the KPIs by payers, locations, and lines of service.

Revenue per Patient, Hour, Visit/Shift

Revenue (Charge) per patient is calculated by taking the total revenue for a period and dividing it by the number of patients receiving services in the same period. Revenue per hour is the average revenue per hour in a given period. Revenue per visit/shift is the average revenue per visit/shift. The period is usually a month or a year.

Monitoring and analyzing these KPIs will help home care agencies understand revenue generated by payers and different service lines. Based on the analysis, Home Care Agencies can set goals to focus on payers and services generating higher average revenue per patient, per hour, and per visit/shift. Home Health Care Software should provide reports and dashboards to measure the KPIs by payers, locations, and lines of service.

Revenue per Employee, Hour, Visit/Shift

Revenue (Charge) per employee is calculated by taking the total revenue for a period and dividing it by the number of employees providing services in the same period. Revenue per employee hour is the average revenue per employee hour in a given period. Revenue per employee visit/shift is the average revenue per employee visit/shift. The period is usually a month or a year.

Monitoring and analyzing these KPIs will help home care agencies understand revenue generated by payers and different service lines. Based on the analysis, Home Care Agencies can set goals to focus on payers and services generating higher average revenue per employee, per hour, and visit/shift. Home Health Care Software should provide reports and dashboards to measure the KPIs by payers, locations, and lines of service.

Cost per Patient, Hour, Visit/Shift

Cost per patient is calculated by taking the total payroll cost and burden for a period and dividing it by the number of patients receiving service in the same period. Cost per hour is the average cost (payroll and burden) per hour in a given period. Cost per visit/shift is the average cost (payroll and burden) per visit/shift. The period is usually a month or a year.

Monitoring and analyzing cost KPIs will help home care agencies get a good understanding of profitability by payers and different service lines. Based on the analysis, Home Care Agencies can set goals to focus on payers and services generating higher profit margins per patient, per hour, and per visit/shift. Home Health Care Software should provide reports and dashboards to measure the KPIs by payers, locations, and lines of service.

Cost per Employee, Hour, Visit/Shift

Cost per employee is calculated by taking the total payroll cost and burden for a period and dividing it by the number of employees providing service in the same period. Cost per employee hour is the average cost (payroll and burden) per employee hour in a given period. Cost per employee visit/shift is the average employee cost (payroll and burden) per visit/shift. The period is usually a month or a year.

Monitoring and analyzing cost KPIs will help home care agencies get a good understanding of profitability by payers and different service lines. Based on the analysis, Home Care Agencies can set goals to focus on payers and services generating higher profit margins per patient, per hour, and per visit/shift. Home Health Care Software should provide reports and dashboards to measure the KPIs by payers, locations, and lines of service.

Missed or Canceled Visits/Shifts and Hours

Missed or Cancelled Visits/Shifts and Hours are defined as the number of missed or canceled visits and the hours for a period.

Missed or canceled visits/shifts lead directly to lost revenue, decreased patient satisfaction, and employee satisfaction. Monitoring and analyzing these KPIs will help home care agencies improve patient and employee satisfaction while minimizing lost revenue. Home Health Care Software should provide reports and dashboards to measure the KPIs by payers, locations, and lines of service.

Uncovered Visits/Shifts and Hours

Uncovered shifts/visits are the open shifts home care agencies cannot fill due to a lack of available employees.

Uncovered shifts are lost opportunities to increase billable hours and revenue. Monitoring and analyzing this KPI will help home care agencies understand lost opportunities and plan to hire more employees to take advantage of the opportunities. Home Health Care Software should provide reports and dashboards to measure the KPIs by payers, locations, and lines of service.

Technology and Software Platform

In addition to selecting the KPIs to measure, agencies should ensure that the data captured for these measures is accurate and timely. Agencies should review their home care software platform to ensure they have the tools to collect and report on the data necessary to implement the KPIs.

Software platforms should also be able to create custom reports and charts and export the relevant data for external use. The option to access the data for tools like Power BI will significantly improve home care agencies’ ability to visualize and manage KPIs.

Conclusion

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can provide insight into operations and setting appropriate business goals for home healthcare agencies. Selecting the correct set of KPIs for Scheduling and Employee Utilization will help home care agencies to measure the current performance, set goals going forward, and measure the progress towards meeting those goals. Right Home Health Care Software platform and technology will help agencies to capture accurate data and report to implement the KPIs.

Read other articles in the series:

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.