Your hospice went through great lengths to find the right EHR. Your organization is a little different. And it was important to find the right partner that addressed billing efficiency, satisfied clinicians and easily provided the reports you needed to manage your operations. Your implementation was bit more complicated than you expected and the transition from your old system was painful requiring more hours than your staff had to give. You’ve had to develop workarounds because the system didn’t provide everything you thought it would. And now your clinicians have new frustrations that seem even bigger than before. You’ve grown. You’ve changed. Through all the due diligence, you’re sure you made the best choice at the time, but now you’re questioning whether or not this is the right fit. What gives?
It’s difficult to make the decision to change software because it often means more disruptions, more change and more to manage. But in some cases, you can’t afford not to. Here are four indicators that it’s time to change your hospice software.
1. It’s impacting finances.
Having strong workflows around your NOE process, eligibility checking, billing rules, warnings and errors are critical to managing your cash flow. Without having the right reporting insights to show where the leaks are, your finances could be suffering without you even knowing it. Taking time to examine these processes and discerning where the gaps are will help you to determine if your software is on par with your needs or if you should consider making a change.
2. It’s impacting employee retention.
It’s no secret that nurses are generally not a fan of paperwork. Charting bedside, especially for those who are terminally ill, can feel insensitive. But the alternative isn’t really an option when it comes to having thorough, defensible documentation. So that’s where having a solution that is easy to use and facilitates quick and easy charting is so critical. Hospices that don’t have this are subject to losing key staff to the competition that may have an easier system. Your software plays a huge role in clinician satisfaction. If you’re losing staff over burdensome technology, it’s time to re-evaluate.
3. It’s costing you time.
Time is a precious commodity. When time is lost due to inefficient processes and added administrative burdens, it impacts both your mission and your profitability. If your software requires tedious clicking and long workflows, it reduces the face to face time with patients and families intervening with the care you provide. Moreover, if exhaustive workarounds compound the time spent on a visit, it means seeing fewer patients in a day. All of this makes it difficult for you to fulfill your mission of providing comforting care in those critical times. It also reduces what you can bill for in a given day and it means more clinicians to cover the total patient load, driving costs up and narrowing your margins even more. If your software is costing you time, consider exploring other solutions.
4. It’s impacting compliance.
Managing care delivery is a tough job on its own, much less keeping up with all the regulations required to run a hospice. Good technology facilitates the proper workflows and provides guardrails that help you follow the rules. At the end of the day, the responsibility is on each individual hospice and caution must be taken to implement strong policies and procedures to ensure compliance. Working in concert with your technology should simplify this process and strengthen your ability to adhere to the CMS requirements. If your hospice has been penalized by CMS, sited for deficiencies or has failed to comply in some way, take time to carefully examine the issue and identify the gaps. If they can be resolved with a stronger technology solution, it may be time to make a change.
If it’s time for your hospice to re-evaluate software solutions, Curantis can help. We provide an innovative, end-to-end, cloud-based management software for hospice and palliative care. Designed with the latest in mobile technology and deep industry expertise, we truly automate workflows to reduce documentation burdens, increase time spent with patients and elevate care delivery.
"Since using Curantis, we've reduced our IDG meeting time by 40%. Our staff love it!" - Crossroads Hospice
Learn more on our solutions page, or contact us to schedule a demo and see how we’re raising the bar on hospice software.
