Home Care Software

---

Home Care Software is defined as software to manage and serve primarily non-medical home care agencies. Other terms include "agency management software" or "private duty home care software". Home care software is used to manage clients, employees, schedules, track visits generate billing, create payroll, maintain compliance, and other business management features.There are many named benefits to using home care software. The alternative is to use a lot of paper, timesheets, disconnected schedules, and spreadsheets. Benefits can include but are not limited to:

• Organization of client files (and have them be digital)
• Employee recruitment and compliance in an online format
• Automated scheduling and shift notifications
• Saving hours on billing and claims through electronic billing
• Electronic timesheets or EVV (electronic visit verification)
• Online charting and documentation
• Payroll is generated automatically and quickly
• Engage clients and families in new ways

Home Care Software is commonly noted as one of the must haves if you are starting a home care agency. In an article named "39 Management Tips for Starting a Home Care Agency", software was named as one of the key things to have. A major source for home care tech news can be found at the Home Care Tech Report, where you can sign up for news and briefings on different home care technologies.

History

Similar to software for medical home health, the origins of home care software started in the 1990s. As personal care, or home care programs and services grew into the 2000s, so did available software solutions. Into the mid-2000s, cloud-based home care software was developed. As cloud or SAAS software evolved, so did home care software. There are now dozens of home care software providers. Some of these providers focus on a specific region or subset of home care.

Most home care software or agency management software solutions are cloud-based now.

Segments of Home Care Served through Software

Within the term "home care", there are many different models and solutions for those organizations. Some software solutions focus on one or several of the following:

• Private pay home care - home care that is paid for directly by the client, or through a long-term care insurance program
• Medicaid/MCO home care - home care that is paid for through state Medicaid programs (or Managed Care Organizations managing Medicaid funds)
• Consumer-Directed home care - home care that is directed by the recipient of care. The recipient (consumer) is the actual employer of the caregiver. An organization like a nurse registry or fiscal intermediary handles the payroll processing and any claims billing that may be necessary
• Private duty nursing - similar to home health, private duty nursing is skilled nursing, but the payments come from the patient/client directly

Types of Home Care Software

Among home care software are several different types of packages. Below are different solutions a home care agency may consider.

Full-Suite Home Care Software

Full-suite home care software includes most of the features a home care agency would need to manage their business including managing clients, employees, schedules, track visits (through EVV or Electronic Visit Verification), generate billing, create payroll, maintain compliance, and other business management features.

EVV Software

EVV or Electronic visit verification provides the time and attendance tracking of caregivers to ensure care is given. This technology typically is through a mobile app with GPS tracking, a landline (telephony), or through a fixed verification device.

Scheduling Software

Scheduling software is used to manage the various schedules of caregivers going out to clients homes. Some software packages are industry specific, and many are specific to the home care industry.

Billing Software

Billing software for home care can range from private pay invoicing to insurance claims and revenue cycle management (RCM). This is an important component as it is the engine that drives revenue for the agency. Billing software focused on insurance, Medicaid or Medicare creates claim files, which are called 837 files (that are either formatted in Professional [P], referred to sometimes as HCFA 1500, or Institutional [I], referred sometimes as UB04). The claims software may also send the claims out to clearinghouses or directly to insurance. Some claims software systems handle remittances and receivables, so that companies can track what has been paid or still outstanding. Billing software focused on direct or private pay generates invoices for services and sends the invoices to home care clients to be paid. An online payments system may be part of that package.

Additionally, to help decide on what software package to use for a specific agency, agencies may want to look at comparison and review sites like Capterra or Software Advice.

Deployments and Devices

On-Premise

Some home care software is still offered or deployed in a physical on-premise server or computer installation.

Cloud-Based

Most home care software packages are now offered in a cloud-based desktop version that can be accessed by a web-browser.

Mobile Apps

Typically the mobile apps offered for home care is for the caregiver as a user to see schedules, clock in and out of shifts and message the agency. Some packages offer a mobile and tablet app for the admin users of the agency.

See Also

Home health care software

Home care in the United States

Electronic visit verification

Electronic billing

Electronic health record

Lots of new content, third party references and internal Wikipedia links

This article "Home Care Software" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Home Care Software. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

---