Have some additional questions? We have provided answers to some of the most common questions about home health software below in our Home Health Software FAQs page.
Home Health Software FAQs
The top questions about Home Health Software
What kind of software should I get for my agency? What are the features I should look for when seeking the best home health software for both the back office and caregivers in the field? What is the difference between home health software, home care software, home health care software, and hospice software? Is home health care software needed for startup agencies or only for well-established agencies? This Questions and Answers section is intended to serve as a good starting point on what you should know about choosing homecare software.
Q: What is Home Health Software?
A: Home Health Software (which may also be called homecare software, or home health care software) is an agency management software platform for in-home health care providers to run their day-to-day operations. Home health software supports back-office administrative functions and front-line clinical care.
Q: What is home health software used for?
A: Home Health Software is used for managing the operational, clinical, and financial aspects of a home health care agency. The functions include home health billing, scheduling, caregiver management, patient tracking, documenting patient assessments, plan of care, and visit notes.
Q: What factors should agencies offering multiple business lines consider when selecting a home health software solution?
A: Depending on the provider and the agency type, there are clinical and non-clinical versions of home health software available in the market. Some agencies serve primarily Medicare patients providing skilled care, while others may offer non-skilled care to Medicaid clients. Some agencies may offer both or may even provide hospice care. Agencies provides have multiple business lines will operate most efficiently with a versatile home health EMR solution that accommodates multiple different in-home care business lines in one system with a single login.
Q: How much does Home Health software cost?
A: There are numerous home health software vendors in the U.S and global market, with prices ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars monthly or annually, depending on the business model of the provider. The annual cost is also influenced by factors such as patient census, number of users, add-ons and integrations, and other considerations.
Q: Do I need to have home health software to succeed as a home health care business?
A: While home health software simplifies processes, allowing agencies to perform day-to-day functions faster and generally with greater efficiency than agencies manually operating on paper, there is no official mandate imposed on home health agencies requiring the use of home health software. It is worth noting that following the passage of the 21st Century Cures Act, EVV software (electronic visit verification) is mandated in most states. Some home health software feature integrated EVV functionality.
Q: How should I choose Home Health Software?
A: There are numerous considerations that should come into play as an agency decides the best software to use. Affordability, number of features, billing and payroll capabilities, integrations, reviews, ease of use, are all important factors. For more information on reviewing vendor offerings, read our related blog How do I choose the best home health software
Q: What are some of the additional benefits of Home Health software?
A: Automation of manually time-consuming processes, handling workflow without relying on paper (or the mistakes that are associated with agency management using non-digital methods), digital records keeping, centralized workflow within a single system, possible integrations with compliance requirements like EVV and billing requirements.
Q: How long does it take to implement home health software?
A: Onboarding procedures vary depending on the home health software vendor. Agencies can expect a wide variety of implementation times ranging from a few days to several weeks depending on the size of the agency.
Q: Is home health software needed for a startup agency?
A: Many startups are recommended by home health consultants and industry peers to have a software in place as they open due to changing regulatory requirements (EVV, NOA, OASIS, HIPAA etc), coupled with the advantages of going paperless paired with the ability to have everyone on staff using the same system. There are currently no states that mandate having home health software in place to begin seeing patients in the U.S.
Q: Can I use home health software on mobile devices?
A: Most major home health software providers are mobile-ready, with some exceptions. When choosing a vendor, take time to determine if their software offers full, partial, or no mobile capability.