If you’re in the market for software at your home healthcare agency, you’re probably in a unique situation. If you’re like most agencies, you’re using a software solution that was purchased many years ago and have likely outgrown it. It was probably a client-server software that requires numerous updates (which are often painful for the agency!). You may or may not have been successful deploying point of care documentation, and it probably doesn’t allow you to be flexible enough to adapt to today’s changing home care market.
Other agencies are working on “homegrown” software, and some use software just for billing and/or scheduling while clinical documentation is done on paper. If you’re one of the first agencies I described, you’ve got some experience and may have a good idea of what you’re looking for, but there are some pitfalls. If you’re one of the latter agencies, you have a little more homework to do. In either case, this article contains tips you should not ignore. This decision is important, as your software solution is something you’ll be living with for a long time. Switching is not easy, and therefore, some planning ahead of time will save you a lot of grief down the road, and will allow you to reap the benefits of a modern software that will truly benefit your agency.
1. Decide what’s important to your agency. Does billing drive your agency, as was the case for most agencies 10 years ago? Or is the opportunity for efficiency on the clinical side where 3 out of 4 of the users will likely be? Look beyond the “nice to have” features and boil the selection process down to why you decided to move on to new software. In other words, decide what you’re willing to give up. If you have strong compliance processes in place, perhaps this isn’t as important in your software as a user-friendly point of care solution. Maybe one software has a great feature that saves the biller several hours a month. How does that weigh against a solution that saves your 100 nurses 30 minutes each day? Deciding what’s truly important to you will make these trade-off decisions easier to make.
2. Imagine your agency in 3 years. If you’re growing, chances are you’re diversifying your services by adding business lines. Many agencies that were primarily Medicare Home Health 5 years ago are finding ways to add complimentary services such as private duty home care or even hospice. Some are trying Medicaid or Community-Based programs as agencies dip their toes in the pre-acute pool of home care services. Many software solutions are obsolete because they can’t handle the needs of the agency of the future.
As agencies grow, it’s becoming more and more common to see them operating on 3 or more software solutions, or documenting primarily on paper. Is this acceptable to you? Or, is there a solution that can truly operate all your lines of service now and in the foreseeable future?
3. How much customization do you need? This is an easy way to eliminate many vendors. Do you need special processes to accommodate regulatory requirements for specific programs? Do you need electronic forms that emulate paper forms you’re trying to eliminate? That should be an easy way pare down the list of vendors.
One caveat- if you have special forms you need, and a vendor tells you that they can recreate them electronically, ask for an example. This is especially important for Medicaid forms, where they must be exact recreations of the paper forms.
4. Talk to other providers. References are obviously important. However, don’t just get one and move on. There are some caveats here- if the reference was provided by the software vendor, you should make a list of the important areas to your business (see #1 above) and dig into those issues. For example, if ease-of-use is important, create some specific questions centered around this. If support is important, do the same.
Online reviews are important as well. I’d look for them on numerous sites. Here are some things to look for: Everyone has a voice today, so if a customer or anyone in the organization is dissatisfied, they can post their opinion online. If an end-user has complaints, they will often go to the easiest channel, which is social media. If you see bad reviews or comments on Facebook or Twitter, it’s important to see how the company responds. If they’re ignored, this may be a bad sign. Just remember that social media is the easiest channel for complaints, and that the feelings of an end users might not reflect the opinion of the organization or agency.
One red flag with online reviews is if a vendor has an unusually large number of reviews that are all positive or were all posted on the same day. The latter usually means it was part of a contest of some sort, typically at a user conference. I’d discount these reviews.
The best reviews are honest, with real pluses and minuses of the software solution. Remember, there is no “right” choice for all providers. At my company, DeVero, we encourage honest reviews that reflect not only the product, but the relationship we have with our customers.
When obtaining information, gather a combo of online and in-person reviews to get a better “feel” for the true strengths and weaknesses of the solution. It’s always good to encounter other users at your state or regional tradeshows, as it’s beneficial if your vendor has numerous customers in a certain geographical area to address state issues.
5. Get staff buy-in. Change is hard, especially when you’re doing something a certain way for a long period of time. Changing software at your home care agency can be traumatic. Buy-in is essential, so including staff in the process is key. The best way to do this is by finding your key influencers that others in your organization look to as leaders. Getting their buy-in will pay dividends when you encounter the unavoidable bumps in the road during implementation.
I’ve even seen some agencies go so far as to have a kick-off party to rally the staff and get them prepared not only for change, but for the challenges that will be encountered.
Be honest with your staff- this is something you’re investing in for the long-term benefits of your agency. There will be some changes in their processes, but they will adapt. I remember an implementation I did 10 years ago when an intake nurse told me “After our first training, I didn’t sleep that night. I asked myself how I would possibly learn this. Now, after a few months, I can’t imagine going back.”
6. Get top management buy-in. This seems obvious, or like it should be a given. However, I’ve seen software projects derailed by end-users who didn’t like the initial changes and weren’t patient enough to give it a try. If you’ve done your homework on a software vendor, their software works. If disgruntled end users “smell blood” in the form of weak support on behalf of management, this can be a disaster. Make sure top management is on the same page, and that they will do whatever it takes to support the successful implementation of your new software.
7. Get a strong project manager on YOUR side. Your vendor will have a project manager, but you need one too. If you think you can sign a contract and the vendor will take care of everything, you are mistaken. There will be bumps in the road, disagreements with your vendor, and there will be push-back from your staff in many cases, as mentioned above. This project manager will be the voice of the agency, and all vendor requests and communication should flow through them. Good communication and follow-up is key for any project.
8. Be patient and open-minded with the software you choose. Often after choosing a new software and implementing, you’ll learn the new software doesn’t do things exactly the same way as the old. Is this because an enhancement request is in order, or because the agency is hanging onto old process that are often inefficient and cumbersome? When you’re implementing software, just remember there is a reason you decided to leave your old software behind. Just because your old software was the right choice at one point in time, it doesn’t mean it’s the right choice to get you where you’re going in the future!
Selecting the right software will feel more like a partnership, where there is a vested interest in mutual success. Take your time, do your research, and do your best to enjoy the process as a learning experience. There are many, many options out there.
Good luck in your search!
Any other tips? Post them in the comments area.
Robert Love
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- Tips for Choosing a Software for your Home Healthcare Agency - June 3, 2016