June 6, 2021
Home care agencies, like many other companies could benefit from increasing efficiency across the agency. Many establishments are not taking advantage of technology, reducing tasks, or consolidating to improve efficiency.
If this sounds like your agency, you’re definitely not alone. However, making your agency more efficient is a huge step on the road to success.
Here are 5 steps to increase efficiency in your home care agency:
1. Meaningful, quick, safe communication
Communication is key when trying to increase efficiency in your home care agency. Purposeful meetings with clear direction of tasks helps caregivers have a clear understanding of their duties and responsibilities. When communication is unclear, there is a chance there will be time wasted because they may delay getting started with tasks or need to come back for further clarification on multiple occasions.
Safe communication is also important because as a home care agency, you want to provide a safe space for your caregivers to discuss their concerns and needs. Safe communication looks like open door policies, kind words, constructive criticism, opportunities of feedback, and praise. Safe communication does not include yelling, belittling, lack of opportunities for feedback, or dismissal of concerns and needs.
With the CareConnect app, you can communicate reminders and changes instantly. Initiate on-demand, live-chats with any caregiver. All communications are logged and HIPAA compliant in the CareConnect app.
2. Automation and technology
It’s no surprise that technology has improved productivity in the workplace. There are many proven benefits of technology and automation. Taking advantage of these lead to streamlined processes and as a result, agencies are seeing time reduction in tasks and more efficiency day-to-day.
Automation can speed up tasks like data entry and document generation. It also could be tailored to fit your caregivers’ specific needs.
As a home care agency, automation and technology also gives your caregivers the ability to focus more on the clients they serve. When the need for caregivers to complete paperwork is reduced, they have more time to focus on investing in their clients.
3. Online training
Providing your caregivers with access to e-learning is another effective way to increase efficiency in your home care agency. Online learning benefits your caregivers by offering flexibility with schedules and comfort to accommodate their needs.
With online training, there is also the added benefit of quick delivery of learning materials. Compared to traditional classrooms, learning time is reduced to 25%-60% for online learning.
CareConnect provides online training three ways: synchronous, asynchronous, or live training. All three ways are possible via our CareConnect app or web platform.
In addition to accommodation of needs and quick delivery of learning materials, online learning also reduces costs. Your home care agency does not have to worry about cost for travel, accommodation, course materials, or paying for multiple trainers.
4. Consolidation
A great way to increase efficiency in your home care agency is to consolidate your systems. Consolidation means to combine items. Whether it be task delegation, caregiver training, or creating care plans, having one system as opposed to 10 different systems, cultivates a culture of efficiency.
5. Reducing tasks and time spent
It almost seems like an easy adjustment, but sometimes reducing tasks and time spent doing them can be difficult if you don’t know how to go about doing so. We’re here to help!
Your home care agency can achieve reducing tasks and time spent by taking the following steps:
- Create a priority list: Whenever a new task comes up, prioritize it; decide whether it needs to be completed now or later down the line. You may find that some tasks aren’t as important or don’t need completed at all—reducing the time spent on them.
- Do similar tasks together: For example, it helps to check email and phone calls all at the same time as opposed to stopping what you’re doing to check them sporadically. This will keep the workday moving efficiently.
- Assign tasks based on caregivers’ strengths: When someone feels comfortable with their duties, they’re more likely to execute them more efficiently.
As a home care agency, you may want to place increasing efficiency at the top of your to-do list. Efficiency overall reduces costs, helps you meet demand, helps the agency grow, and increases profits. The steps above are a great starting point to increasing your home care agency’s efficiency.
CareConnect is a modern digital workforce management platform that enables Home Healthcare agencies to accomplish more in less time. Our solutions make it easy to attract, acquire, onboard, place, train and retain caregivers, anytime on any device. CareConnect bridges the gap between disjointed systems to efficiently streamline workflows and optimizes patient caregiver consistency leading to better outcomes.