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How do you handle repetitive tasks in home-based care? 5 tips to reduce time on admin tasks and focus more on your clients
57% of home care providers reported that they spend up to 3 hours a day on administrative tasks such as data entry, tracking client records, etc., according to a survey conducted by Home Health Care News. In addition, home-based care providers who work in rural areas often must travel long distances to get to their clients, leading to added time spent on repetitive administrative tasks related to travel.
Organisations struggle to keep up with repetitive tasks and inefficiencies that can be costly regarding time and resources. To prevent these mundane tasks from slowing down operations and giving time back to providing quality care to clients, here are 5 tips that can help reduce repetitive tasks for your home care and/or home health business:
1. Automating staff scheduling and management
Automation tools within a home-based care software platform are a great way organisations can improve their operations and workflows. It can free up valuable time and resources by reducing manual tasks that can take up daily hours.
With automation tools enabled by home care software, like AlayaCare, providers can reduce errors made by performing tasks manually and improve accuracy, ensuring compliance with regulations and policies. It also helps allocate care workers and staff more efficiently by matching their skills and availability with client needs, reducing the need for any last-minute visit changes and cancellations.
By providing real-time updates and alerts to care workers and clients without needing repetitive phone calls or emails, automating scheduling can improve communication. Automation additionally increases productivity by reducing mundane manual administrative tasks, allowing staff to focus on client care, and other work priorities.
“In the past, we had to drive an hour and a half to get to the client’s home, to review the paper chart, to figure out what was going on and what’s our next step. So, in terms of client outcomes, we may not even need to make that drive. We may be able to talk quickly through whatever issue is over the phone once we have an understanding of what their teaching has been, and where their situation stands. In terms of client success, that has been extremely helpful.”
– Dylaina Wood, Director of Business Development & Project Management, Access Health
2. Empower care workers and nurses with mobile apps for better task management
Almost everyone has a phone on their person, including care workers. Having mobile access to client information can help care workers stay up to date with real-time information and input any new information regarding their visit right into their mobile device.
Innovative home-based care systems and software solutions have revolutionised how care workers manage their tasks. To ensure the highest quality of care, providers must equip their care workers with the necessary tools to excel. These advanced technologies give care workers access to real-time information, enabling them to be better informed and prepared for client visits.
For example, a well-designed mobile app can revolutionise how care workers manage their time and tasks. GPS-based mobile care management systems can streamline client care, while record-keeping eliminates hours of manual work.
Technology presents everything a care worker needs to know about each client, including medical information and notes on potential issues before an appointment. Real-time communication between care workers and office staff also ensures accurate, fast data collection and reporting —transparency that helps build trust between care workers and their employers.
Care workers can manage their schedules, track their hours worked, and submit timecards more efficiently while on the go. This also reduces the administrative burden on the home care provider and improves accuracy since care workers can access client information such as care plans, medication lists, and medical history.
By providing care workers with greater flexibility, control, and support in their work, a care worker mobile app can reduce stress and burnout, ultimately improving employee retention.
Home care providers can reduce many manual, repetitive tasks, like paper documentation, emails, calls, and more, by having the necessary tools at their care workers’ fingertips.
See how Avivo’s staff member Mitzi used AlayaCare’s mobile app to reduce manual tasks and inefficiencies:
3. Simplified electronic billing and invoicing
Manual billing and invoicing can be one of the biggest pain points, especially because they can consist of many repetitive tasks taking up valuable time and increasing costs for home care providers. By investing in home care software that provides billing and invoicing tools, a provider can take the time saved to focus on more important tasks and client care.
With electronic billing and invoicing, providers can ensure accuracy and reduce human errors, which will ultimately improve compliance with regulations and help your provider get paid faster. Overall, speeding up the payment process and reducing the time between service delivery and payment receipt can improve the provider’s cash flow.
Having the ability to streamline financial reporting with home care software reporting tools can help your provider track revenue, expenses, and other metrics providing better visibility and control over your financials.
Boost your RCM: 3 ways home care software can improve billing and payroll
Leverage electronic billing and invoicing to help your home care provider improve efficiency, reduce costs, and improve financial performance.
4. Electronic charting and documentation
If you’re sensing a theme here, automation within home care software solutions can provide home care providers with many solutions to costly and time-consuming repetitive tasks. One of the most complained about repetitive tasks by care providers is documentation.
With electronic charting and documentation within home care software, all the information care workers need is in one place. By minimising data entry and improving report generation with automation, we can increase the accuracy of clinical document efficiency. With up-to-date and accurate information, care workers can provide more personalised care, improving client safety, and thus enhancing client care.
Home care providers can expect better data analysis with electronic charting and documentation since care workers and back-office staff can collect, store, and analyse client data enabling the provider to identify trends, measure outcomes, and improve client care.
Acclaim Health was able to reap the benefits of reducing paperwork with a home care software system, AlayaCare Cloud. They initially used 48K of paper per month. They reduced it by 90% of 4800 sheets of paper per month since going digital.
5. Analytics and reporting
The aim of continuous improvement is operational excellence — establishing a working method that consistently delivers improvements in care quality and safety.
A data-driven approach to continuous improvement can help home-based care providers stay ahead of the competition by constantly innovating and improving their offerings. Leveraging data allows providers to become more efficient, make better decisions, and develop their human resources.
Utilising key metrics and reports helps to monitor the performance of the provider and aids in decision-making. Data on care worker utilisation, client satisfaction, and client outcomes can provide valuable insights into areas that need improvement.
Home care software solutions can reduce repetitive tasks by automating various time-consuming and costly administrative and care-related processes, such as staff scheduling, care worker on-site processes, billing and invoicing, electronic charting and documentation, and analytics and reporting. Overall, home care software can help home care providers work more efficiently and effectively, improving the quality of care provided to clients.
