The perfect Home Health Software.

LadyLuck35 · Feb 24, 2016

From a home health perspective I would to have a system that allows us immediate access to hospital and physician office records. I would also like the ability to communicate quickly and privately with a physician along with photos (wounds etc)- occasionally I will have doctors that provide me with their personal cell number making texting this information very easy. It would be really nice to have all of this tied into one system.

PurpleDaisyðŸŒ¸ · Feb 25, 2016

Off the top of my head:

-ability to quickly/easily view all past visit data (helps with noting trends, variances, etc).

-ability to view all visit notes in succession, rather than clicking around to open individual visits to view notes

-questions that have been answered on admission and are essentially unchanged will either not be asked again, or will have original data pulled forward (ex: dentures, hearing aid, wears glasses).

-assessment data order is logical (i.e. All vital sign data is together, so you don't chart HR and BP and then several screens later chart lung sounds). I know not everyone would agree with this, but personally I would like my "hands-on" charting lumped together and not mixed in with my "conversation" charting.

-agree with PP that ability to communicate with MD would be great

-ETA: I would love software that makes tracking time easy. It is a PITA, right now.

saltandpaper, MSN · Feb 28, 2016

Create a "smart software ". If you do not complete required elements, you will not be able to save your note/ assessment. For example: if patient has Dx of CHF - wt is required , and if it is wt gain > 5 lb in 1 week you have a button to create communication to physician. If no, nurse cannot save her document . It is always supposed to be a override button in case wt cannot be obtained ....

Mike.Deck · Feb 29, 2016

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

JustMeRN · Mar 2, 2016

Spell check! I hate mis spelling things, but I'm not a great speller and I'm often typing too quickly to pick up errors (if I even notice them) and the text font is sooooo small (and not adjustable). So spell check in note software please!

and I like the idea of prepopulated info being pulled into the visit then updated.

Mike.Deck · Mar 2, 2016

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?

JustMeRN · Mar 3, 2016

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?

i think there are certain aspects of an assessment that could be prepopulated without causing concern. Things like wound location. That's not changing. Or maybe what would be better is the ability to see the last assessment findings without closing your visit and reopening the next. I prefer to have some sort of benchmark, since I do per diem visits and don't see patients serially. Being able to easily see the last assessment findings while I am at the visit would be super helpful. Maybe more check boxes too. For example, falls are a big thing. Our current documentation doesn't have anything specific to falls. A check box of "falls since last visit, yes/no" would be a simple way to indicate that we had asked. Most of the nurses I follow in home care are terrible at narrative notes, but our software relies heavily on assessment findings being included in a narrative note.

trailnurse · Mar 9, 2016

Regarding repopulation -- our software does that, but what would make it more helpful would be if the repopulated fields would show up in a different color that would change to black when edited. Otherwise it's easy to miss a comments field and old/outdated info. It would make it easier for the clinicians as well as QA.

Would love a good MAR/TAR.