Mike.Deck

Thanks, please feel free to share your responses if you are reading this!

I created a quick survey (should take less than 2 minutes to fill out) for an upcoming presentation that I need to do. This survey does not collect any personal or corporate information, it is not used for marketing, but it let's you chime in on the highs and lows of working in Home Health. If you have 2 minutes, your assistance would be more than appreciated. Again, this is for a presentation that I am preparing for in 2019 for a few state and national associations on the difference of perception from management and field staff. 1. What best describes your job? Therapist, nurse, mental health, office staff, aide 2. What is your #1 Achilles Heel in this industry Transportation to pts, government regulation, documentation of visits, reimbursement 3. Do you work for multiple home care agencies? 4. Do you currently use an electronic form of documentation? 5. Do you track mile for reimbursement? 6. What do you love about home health? Ability to set your schedule, ability to assist a pt outside an institution, Paycheck, other 7. If you could eliminate one aspect of your job which would it be? documentation, driving, working for multiple agencies, home environment 8. If you could design or change an item what would it be? 9. How long have you worked in home health?

As a "Techie" I will agree to disagree with Old Dude. Many factors come into play when an agency (small or large) will convert or implement a new system. I tell Administrators that the first 90 days of starting a EMR system will give the caregivers another excuse while documentation is late. My laptop broke, I didn't know how to do something, I couldn't get on the internet (but I did post a Facebook update!) Modern EMR systems are designed in an intuitive way for caregivers to gain acceptance in the marketplace. This is the number one priority. In regards to increased productivity, however, I do see modern EMR system showing this. I recently worked with an agency that had a census of 100+ that was still using a combination of Haven, DDE and paperwork. They have 10 members in their office that do nothing but redundant data entry and work. Placing them with an EMR will definitely see an increase in productivity after the learning curve is over. A few years ago, I presented a non-vendor biased view on the steps to take when looking at an EMR system. I'll be glad to share that with you if I can find it! Just send me a message.

I do hear quite a few caregivers asking about pre-filling of data from previous notes. I totally understand how this would be a immense time saver, but also understand concerns that it may raise, by those that won't take the time to review the documentation in a timely manner. I know of a few agencies that have been de-certified by this as well as had a substantial amount of recouped payments due 100% to this. So where do we find a way to make it work for both sides of the fence, giving the clinical staff the flexibility and ease of use, but also protecting the agency from cloned documentation. There has to be a way. By the way, for those that do have this feature, be very careful with it. I have a copy of a memo from the OIG to CMS to insure that if a provider is using an EMR system, then to look closely for this practice. There is always something right?

Thank you for you input! Please keep the feedback coming!

Hi guys, let me start by immediately stating that I work as a project manager for a software company. I am not a clinician (but married to physician and stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last month) however I often use this forum to get a real world handle on how the real clinician works and thinks in their field work. This post is not designed to solicit business, but feedback. One of the issue I face and I'm sure you face is that the decision makers in the typical agency very rarely communicate with the field staff when decisions are to be made on choosing software. It's also very hard for software companies to solicit feedback from clinicians who are the end users, and it comes down to a love and hate relationship. What I would love to hear, is please no names of the software you use, but rather, what do you absolutely love and what do you absolutely hate about your current system. As an example, I met with a clinician this morning who loves the ability to print out the medication profile and interactions, but the print out is not designed for visually impaired patients (The font is too small). Again, if you have time please share your love/hate but please keep it honest and let's not point fingers or name vendors. What's the real work force looking for and appreciating?