CellTrak Blog

 - Mark Battaglia, CellTrak CEO

The leader of a mid-sized home care agency realized that, in order to compete effectively, she had to find ways to run the business more efficiently. As she dug into how the agency operates, she found that some data had to be keyed into multiple systems, data from some systems needed to be manually keyed into other systems, and that her management team couldn’t combine data in the ways they needed to do analyses to optimize the business.

At first, the leader framed the problem in technical terms – what technology did the agency need to better use its data? But, after talking with the CIO, she realized the technology to make use of the data wasn’t the issue – access to the data was. “It’s our data,” she said. “Why can’t we just get it and use it?”

When Premier Health care, a physician group based in Bloomington, Indiana, discovered in early 2016 that a laptop from their billing department had been stolen, the loss was far more than just a pricey electronic item. That laptop contained unencrypted patient records – including social security numbers and financial information for 1,769 people, and additional data that could impact more than 200,000 additional patients.

It’s hard these days to read the news without coming across yet another story of a major data breach at a major organization. The unfortunate truth is that every business today faces the risk of cyberattack – but health care businesses may be even more vulnerable.

Without a doubt, there are many reasons for home care agencies to go paperless. Digitizing processes can yield significant operational efficiencies and sets the stage for improvements in both staff satisfaction and care quality. And eliminating the need for field staff to come into the office to drop off or pick up paperwork can dramatically reduce mileage and labor costs.

These benefits are obvious, but they don’t tell the whole story. In fact, going paperless can impact an agency in surprising ways.

When you’re managing care and service delivery, there are endless metrics you could evaluate to optimize care. From tracking the number of visits a care provider makes daily to the percentage of visits that start and end on time, it’s tough to know where to focus your attention.

It’s a critical decision nonetheless. If you select the wrong metrics, you risk chasing improvements that would only minimally benefit your organization. But monitoring too many at one time can overwhelm your staff.

By focusing on the right key performance indicators (KPIs), you can improve your agency’s service quality and outcomes for your clients, your own agency, and your payers. So, how do you determine what those KPIs are?

In home care, paperwork is everywhere – between the field and the office and between your agency and all types of third parties. Admission forms, schedules, point-of-care documentation, payroll processing, and care documentation for third parties – paper is often king.

Across the United States, the “Fight for $15” movement has taken hold in many industries that employ hourly workers, and home care is one of them.

Coordination. Communication. Collaboration.

It isn’t easy to deliver home care efficiently and effectively. There are just so many variables, including:

Cut back or dive in? When profit margins are getting squeezed, the hair-trigger reaction is “Cut costs!” Reduce staff, rein in capital expenses, cut anything that’s deemed “non-essential.”

Since new labor laws have taken effect this year, Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) lawsuits against home health care agencies have popped up faster than Usain Bolt runs the curve in the 200-meter dash.