Using Home Care Software to Reassure Families

Using software for home care agencies can be one of many effective sales strategies you use with prospective clients and their families. We’ll share how.

Consumers want an experience that goes above and beyond. They want the best of the best. Technology is one way that you can separate yourself from competitors, especially in private duty care.

Recent research done in the retail industry that’s applicable to home care, shared “69%, of consumers want retailers to improve their customer experience…61%, judge a retailer's innovativeness based on its communications.”

What should you take away from this?

• Your consumers care about their experience. It has to be great.
• Your communications need to reflect how you’re different and why you’re better.

Here’s how you can use your software to get an edge on consumers—and the competition.

Your Care Portal Feature

Care Portal features enable you to share care plans you’ve created with your clients and their families. Having robust, up-to-date information can be your agency’s competitive advantage.

Take your care portal software feature and turn it into a sales point for your care managers and other team members that do in-home assessments:

• Sample sales dialogue: “We create detailed care plans using a client’s background and medical information to anticipate needs ahead of time. Then, you can view those care plans in real-time using the care portal.” 
• Sample sales dialogue: “With our care portal you have the ability to see and edit shifts. You have ability to see care plans, and the ability to sign and share documents with your caregivers.”

This lowers the friction for families while giving them peace of mind. With Care Time, family members, clients, caregivers, and agency employees can edit time sheets. This gives them the ability to add and see real-time updates, including their schedule. Knowing that a caregiver will be at the client’s home at a particular time is a necessity nowadays.

Electronic Visit Verification

Electronic visit verification or EVV, is required when Medicaid pays for home care services, and going without carries hefty fines. At its core, EVV is when caregivers use a phone to clock in/out and verify that they are at the client’s home during their shift. You have the choice in what platform you choose, as long as it meets state guidelines.

Insights from Home Health Care News, show that ‘“one of the biggest points or purposes behind all of the EVV is to really try and create a system that is ensuring that the proper care is being delivered at the right time, in the right setting and to prevent any forms of fraud, waste, and abuse.’”

Although it may be a point of compliance for you, for families, they see it as psychological safety.

A fear for families when using home care is if a caregiver can clock in when they’re not at a client’s home or clocking in from the driveway, etc… The best EVV software enables you to reassure families that your caregivers are at a client’s home at specified times and have the evidence to back up those claims.

Make sure that your clock-in radius is close enough to the home for the caregiver to clock in, with room for a margin of error, which could be that the house is surrounded by trees or blocked off in some parts. 

• Sample sales dialogue: “We are able to verify where caregivers are when they clock in so that we know and you know where they are—and doing the work they’re supposed to do.”
• Sample sales dialogue: “We can add voice verification to shift clock-ins to reassure you that someone is home with your loved one.”

EVV with CareTime goes beyond clocking in and out on time. It also means:

• Visit notes and tasks
• Offline visit features for clients who may live in an area without service
• Voice verification functionality
• Automated billing and payroll

Simple and easy communication

One of the key differentiators that can put a home care agency at the top of family’s shortlist is how effectively you communicate and what measures are put in place in the event of an emergency.

Choosing a home care software company that makes communication easily accessible can make your agency come out on top. Care Time helps families stay connected to their caregivers and home care team with effective relationship management, paired with open communication channels.

Having an open line of communication allows caregivers to report instant updates when accepting shifts or changes in conditions with their clients. It also allows families to share techniques that may be helpful to work with their parent or nuances to be wary of when coming to the home.

• Sample sales dialogue: “You are always one text message or email away from reaching someone here in the office.”
• Sample sales dialogue: “We’re always available and you don’t have to call. Use the chat function and we can get connected instantly.”

Don’t underestimate the importance of an effective communication program. According to Home Care Pulse, “the lowest scores in client satisfaction, historically, have to do with communication between the office staff and the client, while the highest scores always revolve around caregiver compassion and professionalism.”

Here are a few ways to utilize communications features to build and maintain rapport with clients:

• Have set cadences to touch base with clients in a variety of channels. For example, this could mean, 1 satisfaction call per month, 2 emails per month with agency updates, and 1 direct mail per month on a promotion or to collect reviews. 
• Respond to issues in a timely fashion. Being quick to respond and having a solution ready at-bay, can help families remain at ease in times of stress. Use your home care software as a manager for crisis communications.
• Personalize each message that you send. When you’re getting on an inquiry call with a family, instead of going through a script first, try letting them share their story. Listen deeply. And then respond with reassurance, guidance, and action. This will help you to be seen as an authority, and you can follow up with communications that are specifically tailored for their family’s situation.

Your home care software is your next best sales tool

In home care, there is a similarity between service offerings, rates, and caregivers. What can separate you from the pack is the technology you choose to operate your agency. 

By making the right choice, you can leverage your programming as a sales tool that reassures families that home care is secure and high quality.

When looking for your software, be sure to look for:

• Robust care portal features
• EVV
• Communications functionality

Once families hear about the tools and features that your agency has at your disposal, they’ll sign on quicker with more confidence.