HomeCare HomeBase users, I would like to start a discussion with you all

ladyboyd · Jan 7, 2012

I am finding several things that cannot be answered by my management team. I also find there is not enough autonomy with this program. Perhaps it is just my HHA, IDK.
So, any HH nurses wish to visit about this program?

We use this program at my job. Switched a little over a year ago from McKesson.

What questions do you have?

I<3H2O, BSN, RN · Jan 7, 2012

We are finding that the number of questions seem so out of the ordinary for the POC that the pt. has. Are you being required to answer if you taught on cardio when the pt. clearly has no cardio issues or diabetes when they clearly are not diabetic? It seems the question base is bizarre or as RNs when we do SOC we have no idea what we are doing, LOL. When I look back at the visit history, I am finding that I may have a topic under "goal met" only to find that I said it wasn't met 3 visits from that one. Or, I may have 4 "not met" and another nurse goes out and has 14 "not met" goals?? There is not consistency, it seems. The interventions, I feel, should correspond to the POC and you should not have to answer about teaching on resp disease if they don't have resp disease. KWIM? Is this something that we are doing to ourselves?

Isabelle49 · Jan 7, 2012

We are using HCHB since October. I like it a lot, but I know what you mean about some of the intervention/goals. If an intervention is not applicable to my patient I say 'no' when asked if I assessed/taught, etc and on the next screen I choose 'not applicable to POC'. Even though I do that, I get that same question at subsequent visits.

You would think that once the goal is met, that particular goal would not reappear. On the other hand, you may reassess knowledge a few weeks later and find the pt/cg can't remember what they knew a few weeks ago. Pt/cg's are bombarded with information and repetition, revisit of a subject is sometimes necessary.

I<3H2O, BSN, RN · Jan 8, 2012

Isabelle49, Ideally this is what I would like to see happen is a nurse saying that it WASN'T taught b/c it doesn't apply however, I think it is setting up the nurses who don't know the patient to look like an idiot when they start in on "Do you know what HTN is?" LOL and the pt. says well "I know what it is but I don't have that!" KWIM?

decadespast · Jan 12, 2012

I like it, and I don't. The assessment parts are ok, but I really hate the goals and interventions section. My agency (suncrest) makes us be more specific and type in the interventions boxes as the provided interventions aren't patient specific. The 485s aren't specific, either. You'd think they could do specific sets for each diagnosis, say, CHF, instead of the general "cardiac" section that really doesn't help much at all. I can name things that I hate and like about nearly everything about hchb.

Isabelle49 · Jan 14, 2012

Nurse might want to do a quick check of patient's diagnoses before seeing the patient and maybe focus on one of the diagnoses to teach on during that visit or teach on ay questions that the patient may have about meds, disease, etc.

I do wish the items that I mark 'not applicable to POC' would go away and not show up again on the patient again. I would imagine if HCHB knew of this need they might make it happen. I might drop them a line. Can't hurt.

I<3H2O, BSN, RN · Jan 16, 2012

Decadespast,

Where are you putting in something specific? I am finding that when I get to the locator 21 area there are automatic things listed in there and while I could change the wording to be more pt. specific, it would still keep the same questions attached to that specific goal.

I would love to make my 485/POC (goals and interventions) more pt specific but it seems the way this program is set up that it does not allow it.

I believe the companies that purchase this program can kind of customize it as they see fit, however I could be completely wrong on that.

paph · Feb 2, 2012

Our company is considering using Homecare Homebase and we are wondering how much this software helps to cut down on printed forms and printing costs. We use a lot of forms in our home care operations but all I can find online are comments concerning OASIS entries. Does HBHC eliminate more paperwork than just SOC, RECERT, etc. entries? Can you set up any form you like and have HBHC gather the data for you? Any comments concerning reduction of paperwork and associated expenses on forms other than OASIS will be greatly appreciated. Especially anyone's experiences with putting a company specific form into HBHC. Thanks!

Isabelle49 · Feb 2, 2012

On some items, when you select, they will appear on a screen with a white background and it is here you can change the wording or add to it.

As far as teaching items that are not specific to a patient, there is a "Not applicable to the POC", i.e., patient that doesn't have DM or HTN, etc. I would wish that once I select 'Not applicable to the POC" the system would not re-ask. I find occ, I have to get back to DX to make sure - makes me second guess myself. All in all it is WAYYYYYY better the shuffling all the paper we had before.

paph · Feb 18, 2012

Isabelle49 - When you say "shuffling all the paper" exactly which forms are you referring to? I'm trying to figure out how much we will save on printing if we go with HCHB. Does the software only capture OASIS data or does it allow the elimination of other paper work as well? Any information will be appreciated. Thanks.

paph · Feb 18, 2012

One other thing. Does anyone know how much it costs to transition to HCHB? I assume it is sold on a "per user" license plus a monthly cost. Plus, of course one must purchase all of the PDAs for each user. Any information on this will also be appreciated!