The Point-of-Care Checklist: What You Need to Deliver in Home Health Care

For many home health clinicians, patient care documentation can be a daunting and cumbersome process – causing frustration and lowering productivity. The use of home care EMR software, however, can mitigate these challenges and, ultimately, improve overall efficiency and clinician satisfaction.

In fact, in a 2014 study of 137 clinicians from a Philadelphia-based in-home care agency, 90% of patient notes were completed within a one-day compliance interval among those who implemented a point-of-care system. Additionally, productivity in the number of clinical notes documented post-implementation increased almost tenfold compared to pre-implementation.

Despite these benefits, concerns about using point-of-care software and ensuring clinician adoption can sometimes prevent providers from implementing the technology. To overcome these barriers, consider the following factors when evaluating an EMR solution.

Familiarity is key to adoption – When shopping for a point-of-care solution, be on the lookout for one that incorporates familiar interfaces. For instance, does the software use recognizable icons for common actions or display daily schedules and patient histories in visual formats or a logical order. The more intuitive the software is to use, the more it will empower clinicians to successfully adopt it.

Keeping clinicians compliant – A good point-of-care solution guides clinicians to quickly and accurately complete assessment documentation with evidence-based clinical content and diagnosis-driven care planning. As a result, agencies can ensure compliance, while clinicians spend more time treating patients, not documenting care.

Flexibility in choosing the mobile device – Be sure the solution is device agnostic. This means that it can operate on any type of mobile device, be it an iOS or Android platform. This gives agencies the freedom to choose the technology they invest in, instead of being forced into purchasing one type of technology, which might not be the most cost-effective option.

Staying connected across multiple settings – Home care clinicians are not always guaranteed a reliable internet connection. The solution should provide anytime, anywhere access and capabilities for offline charting when connectivity isn’t available. But make sure it has built-in checks and verifications to ensure fail-safe synchronization of your data. The last thing any clinician wants to see is hours of documentation lost because the synchronization failed. They should be able to pass in and out of Wi-Fi without worrying.

Customer support you can count on – Support can make or break the experience clinicians have at the point-of-care. Be sure you understand how the vendor deals with support. Ask questions and don’t be afraid to request data to back up claims. For instance, ask about the average hold time (especially during month-end close) and how many support cases are escalated (HINT: an answer higher than 1% indicates poor development practices). Be sure that when issues arise, you can count on the vendor to ensure a smooth transition.

For more details on what to look for in a point-of-care system, download our white paper: Is Your Point-of-Care System Helping or Hurting?