Top 6 Digital Solutions to Help You Grow Your Home Care Agency Post-Pandemic
Published on March 24, 2022 by Sharon Morrisette
Home care has gained more popularity in the last few years as the demand continues to increase. The ongoing contributing factors include the pandemic, aging population, and raised awareness of home care services.
As a result, the home care industry is expected to continue growing. Home care agencies can seize this opportunity for growth by making sure their systems can keep up with the demand and respond to the industry’s biggest challenges.
By switching to an integrated technology solution and leaving manual processes behind, home care agencies can unlock their potential to grow faster without compromising the quality of care they offer.
So, which technology solutions do home care agencies need in order to grow and differentiate themselves from their competitors?
Automated data collection and use
Relying on manual and paper-based processes can be a real risk for home care agencies because of HIPAA (The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), not to mention inefficient when keeping track of client intake and care plans.
Automating data collection and securely storing patient data is vital to the smooth running of home care agency operations.
Furthermore, automating data collection and use speeds up the client intake process and simplifies the management of care plans.
You can use automated data collection systems for storing and sorting your caregivers’ and caregiver candidates’ information too.
Overall, putting these systems in place will increase your operations’ efficiency and prevent details from slipping through the cracks when you are busy growing your agency.
Digital tracking and management solutions
Streamlining your home care agency’s workflows by using technology can save you time and money, which you can instead invest in growing your business. Plus, in the new era of working remotely, it can minimize the disruption to your agency’s operations during a crisis.
Digital management solutions make it easier to keep track of your employees’ performance, schedule and assign care visits, automate billing and payroll, and more.
By digitally tracking the patient-caregiver interaction, your agency can also easily adhere to regulatory requirements such as EVV.
Applicant tracking systems
Most home care agencies struggle with finding and retaining talented caregivers. Since it is an increasingly competitive market, home care agencies must learn to attract and engage caregivers during the hiring process.
Going through and sorting out hundreds of applications is no easy task. So, applicant tracking systems can help accelerate the hiring process by automating its essential stages, from posting job ads to scheduling interviews.
While an ATS makes the elimination process easier for the home care agency, it can also improve the candidate experience. ATS makes applying for a role easier for the candidate and keeps them engaged with internal communication tools throughout.
Therefore, using an applicant tracking system can accelerate the hiring process; making sure you are ready to support more clients by expanding your workforce, without compromising the quality of care.
Smart scheduling systems
Smart scheduling tools are essential to run your home care agency smoothly and ensure top-notch customer service to your clients.
Your clients need reliable care, and your caregivers need flexible working. Smart scheduling tools notify caregivers of open shifts and prevent scheduling conflicts which is key to providing adaptable scheduling for caregivers.
A great scheduling tool can also match caregivers according to work preferences and skills with patients with specific needs and preferences. Not only does this significantly increase client satisfaction, but it also improves caregiver satisfaction and retention.
Since caregiver retention is amongst the most important challenges of the home care industry, addressing this issue with technology is vital to secure your growth.
Real-time secure messaging
In a time when we are almost always connected via our smartphones, providing real-time secure messaging for your clients and caregivers is a necessity.
Improved communication between your client, their family, and your caregiver makes a positive impact on your home care agency’s reputation, your client’s loyalty, and your caregiver’s job satisfaction.
Families feel more involved in their loved ones’ care, giving them peace of mind. In addition, clients feel more heard about their care preferences, and caregivers are better engaged when they receive valuable feedback.
Happy, satisfied clients and families are your strongest advocates because they are likely to recommend your home care agency which, in turn, will help to grow your client base.
Business Intelligence tools
Analyzing data is key to improving your services, making better business decisions, and optimizing return on investment.
Business intelligence tools offer you insight into your home care operations and show your progress toward business goals, whether they are related to performance or finances.
You can keep track of your employees’ performance, your finances, and even client satisfaction in one platform. You can even compare this data to previous periods to make improvements, understand existing patterns and plan for future growth.
Business intelligence tools help you grow your business by making sure you know your business’s strengths and weaknesses based on actual data.
If you are considering integrating technology in your home care agency operations as part of your growth strategy, two things can help this transition:
In a previous blog, we covered the best way to introduce new technology to your staff. Although training takes time and effort, using technological solutions in the long term will save your business time and money.
A holistic software, such as Smartcare Software, weighs all the possible challenges and opportunities of running a home care agency, including scalability. Smartcare Software has effectively considered the experience of all its potential users, whether they are managers, caregivers, or clients.
If you’re looking for user-friendly home care agency software, please give us a call or request a free demo to learn how Smartcare Software can help grow your agency.