In the United States, the demand for home health services is rising, fueled by an aging population that largely desires to age in place. The latest U.S. Census showed that one in six Americans is over 65. As a home health provider, you’re likely seeing an uptick in business. Incorporating workflow automation into your processes can help you manage this demand without impacting your workers. Learn more about how these systems enhance home health agency efficiency and what they can do for you.
Why Workflow Efficiency Matters More Than Ever
Home health agencies across the country are seeing more demand. The home health industry is expected to reach $107 billion in 2025. Patient care technology can help you automate your workflows to reduce your team’s time spent on paperwork. Simple technology changes give your existing team the time to manage increased patient loads without burning them out.
Outdated software is likely costing your agency money. A majority of healthcare organizations have reported lost revenue because of ineffective accounts receivable processes.
It also takes a toll on your team’s time. Most physicians said manual healthcare documentation cuts into their time spent treating patients. These clues can tell you if your patient care technology may be in need of an upgrade.
Sign 1: Bottlenecks in Referral Intake
Most patients expect to wait to see specialists for noncritical services within reason. If your patients are waiting months to get care, look for bottlenecks in your referral intake processes. Healthcare automation tools can extract and verify data, flag incoming referrals for missing information, and verify insurance information.
Your team can respond more quickly and skip the manual data entry. Your patients don’t have to wait as long to receive the care they need.
Sign 2: Excessive Manual Documentation
If your team relies heavily on handwritten notes, spreadsheets, and other manual documents, it’s probably time for a system upgrade. Instead of being able to access patient files with a single click, your team has to spend hours inputting data from one system to another. They might end up doing paperwork at the expense of patient visits.
Centralized, automated document management is a huge process improvement in healthcare. A single system allows immediate access to information. Your team can also access the latest documents for better coordination and collaboration. These systems also offer security features that keep you in compliance with regulations.
Sign 3: Missed or Delayed Orders
Many factors cause physician orders to be delayed or skipped altogether. Common reasons for these disruptions include transcription errors when entering an order into the system, incomplete documentation, missing signatures, or orders being routed to the wrong email address or fax number.
AI-powered physician order tracking can scan orders and flag them for missing or inaccurate information. This software routes orders to the right person or sends them back to the referring physician. You don’t miss orders, and your patients get faster treatment.
Sign 4: Slow Approval Processes
Dealing with physical paperwork and manual signatures significantly delays approvals. You have to scan, email, or fax paperwork to the right physician for a signature, hoping you get them when they’re available.
When you need patient signatures, you have to wait until they’re in your office. Electronic signature workflows let you transmit documents for signatures over a secure system. Patients can fill out and sign paperwork before their appointment and spend their visit interacting with their clinician.
Sign 5: Lack of Operational Visibility
Older healthcare software systems lack built-in reporting and analytics capabilities. Instead of measuring your data in real time, you have to enter statistics such as average wait times or time spent in accounts receivable.
Analytics dashboards help you identify weak spots in your processes and let you address them. They also keep your team members accountable.
Sign 6: Stressful Audit Preparation
Audits are a way of life in home health, but they can still sneak up on you. When it’s time for your audit, your administrative team likely spends hours checking patient records, billing statements, and other documentation for missing information and errors. They have to track down records and credentials at the last minute.
Healthcare automation tools can scan your patient documents and flag potential compliance errors. Your team has more time to track down missing data. If you also have a centralized document management system, this task takes less time.
Your system can also send alerts when someone’s credentials are due to expire, so you can renew them before the auditing process.
Proactive Change Beats Crisis Response
Adding automations to your patient care technology can greatly improve home health operations. Your administrative and clinical teams can easily track and manage referrals and patient orders to reduce wait times and care delays.
They also have more information available to communicate with patients at intake and reduce billing surprises. Your home health agency improves its efficiency, and your patients feel more satisfied.
Explore how WorldView’s home health workflow automations can free up your team’s time to see more patients. Schedule a demo today.
