Investing in technology and innovation is essential to meeting business goals for home care agencies, a majority of providers asserted in a new survey.
The survey, conducted by home care management software company HHAeXchange, showed that 57% of respondents believe that new technology can help with issues such as reducing costs or delivering better care.
In particular, operators still are trying to move away from manual administrative tasks, the report stated.
“The old ways of providing home care no longer work in today’s dynamic marketplace,” Stephen Vaccaro, president of HHAeXchange, said in a statement. “Home care agencies need innovative tools and technology that enable them to prioritize proactive home care, enhance health outcomes, streamline operations and foster business growth.”
Vaccaro specified artificial intelligence and predictive analytics as offering the most potential for agencies to improve processes like payroll management and streamlining health records in a report for McKnight’s Home Care earlier this year.
HHAeXchange touted its own scheduling platform as reducing errors for roughly half of the home care agencies surveyed in the report.
Many home care agencies also are offering supplementary education and training to caregivers and staff as a way of retaining employees even as new technology is introduced, the report states.
Vaccaro and HHAeXchange are not the only players in the industry bullish about how technology can benefit providers.
In April, a panel of providers at the McKnight’s Home Care Online Expo called technology a “tremendous game changer” for the home care market.
Last year, the Long-Term Care Data Cooperative announced a multi-year initiative to create a massive new electronic health records system for nursing home residents, to help providers better monitor needs and outcomes.
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