Choose the Right Home Care Software to Maintain Multi-Office Functionality

 A home care agency that is so successful it expands to multiple sites inevitably faces one key practical challenge: how to ensure consistent operations across the board?

Whether these locations are grouped in the same region or spread across the country, this challenge is a routine pain point for many companies in the industry. Home care headquarters often battle to centralize fundamental processes such as workflow and billing while simultaneously granting local offices the autonomy to manage specific functions such as their staff’s scheduling needs.

The right home care software can guide multi-site agencies toward transparent, efficient operations, freeing them from the risk of duplicating work and the litany of reporting headaches that can arise if the best solution is not in place.

All software not created equal

Yet not all software is created equal. Many programs, which appear robust at first glance, are not designed to support multi-office functionality. Even if an agency has only one location now, it may consider expansion years down the line. And it pays to have technology in place that can seamlessly integrate the needs of these multiple sites. 

One solution confidently addresses this challenge: the cloud. Most business experts agree that embedding functionality in a cloud-based platform is a major strategic step that can outpace competitors.

For home care, non-cloud based software typically creates several independent versions of the same software, causing a lack of transparency and removing any opportunity for real-time data sharing.

Multiple offices attempting to export and manipulate data, re-format information and share presentations can create inaccuracies when it comes to obtaining a full picture of operations, which in turn impact the bottom line.

Key considerations

At AlayaCare, we believe there are three key considerations to keep in mind on this subject.

1. FLEXIBILITY: The software should be flexible enough to allow system administrators to set and modify parameters for different levels of access throughout the system. For example, top-level access for centralized functions based at headquarters, with different permissions for local offices to view and edit materials further down the chain. Good software should accommodate the many nuances of centralized and decentralized functions (for example, invoicing, billing and payroll vs. local office schedules).

2. CONFIGURABILITY: Roles and permission settings can be a challenge in a multi-office agency. Each user, for instance, needs to have read/write/edit/delete settings. And depending on an agency’s preferences, multiple sites may not share employee and client information, as well as certain data. The right software solution must be able to configure to these sorts of considerations — which of course may change over time.

3. REPORTING: Technology should ensure that an agency has harmonized coding, streamlined roles and positions, and real-time and shareable reporting built in regardless of location. This leads to improved performance.

AlayaCare spent years crafting such a solution for home care businesses. Our cloud-based platform keeps business needs in check and the future in mind. Book a free demo anytime to find out more.