Role of Technology in Evolving Home-based Care

The advancement in technologies is impacting businesses around the world, home care is no exception. The use of technology for home care and personal care services has eased the operations of the home care business, and the demand for care services rose especially during the ongoing pandemic. As a result, several home care organizations adhered to the use of home care software, home care mobile applications to keep the business going.

Elderly people were more likely to use home care technology to avail themselves of home care and personal services. As revealed in a study — more than 40% of elders use technology to support aging at home. It is not just the seniors who benefitted from the use of home care technology, it also helped care providers to sustain and transform for the future.

Through the use of home care technology, business processes have improved on all fronts, like it has ensured quality care services, improved efficiency, reduced operational cost, and even helped in making informed decisions.

Home care software solutions are now embedded with Artificial Intelligence (AI). It has allowed the private duty home care businesses to track caregiver’s performance, monitor the total working hours, track the total overtime, total clients served, the total number of visits made in a month, etc.

The home care businesses have evolved ever since technology like home care software came into being. The operations which were carried out manually are now being done with the help of automated software. With the use of software, the following functions are streamlined:

• Scheduling: Service providers can easily schedule the caregivers’ visits as per the requirements. With the use of home care software, the manual scheduling time has been reduced to 70%. The software provides an immediate update on status, which wasn’t possible manually. Helps in assigning tasks and prevents duplication.
• Updating Certifications: It is one of the most important steps. The caregivers are hired based on their experience, education, and certifications. Before the introduction of home care software, agencies used to handle certifications manually that increased the chances of misplacing and losing important documents. But, this problem was solved with digitization; agencies can upload all certifications in one place, with no chance of losing them. Caregiving companies can record and update the employment history without any hassle. By keeping data in one place, the home care agencies can coordinate more simply and efficiently.
• Comprehensive Reporting: Keeping track of the location and time of care providers is vital to prevent any fraudulent billing and undeserving payments. Manually it was difficult to monitor the activities of caregivers, but, now with the advancement of technology, the home care agencies have evolved as the software helps in overall reporting of the services provided. It assists in generating marketing reports, obtaining reports, monitoring clocking in and clocking out through EVV i.e. electronic visit verification, deriving reports on scheduling shift timing, and changes in care plans.

A Technological Revolution in-Home Care

The delivery of care has been made easy with the use of technology. The technology to track and monitor every move of the care provider is a boon to both home care agencies as well as caregivers. Right from managing and tracking client data to efficiently streamlining care to integrating care plans, etc. have proved to revolutionize the entire home care business industry. Another positive aspect of home care technology is reaching rural environments. Earlier, the services of caregivers were restricted to the urban population, but now, these have penetrated the untouched territories too.

Unfortunately, these technologies come with potential risks too. The digital records invite hackers, posing risk to the vast data of both caregivers as well as home care agencies. It has become essential for home care providers to align with their technology partners and manage potential risks like finance-related, client care-related, employee-related risks, risks related to processing claims, etc.

Overall, through the use of technology, businesses have been able to unleash their true potential in providing ultimate home and personal care services.