Over the years, there has been a tremendous increase in the number of people who are establishing home health care businesses. This is due to the increase in the population of baby boomers and the increase in the demand for more personalized medical care.
While you may be thinking this service is only for senior citizens, other categories of people are beginning to appreciate it. This include new moms, people suffering from chronic diseases, people with physical disabilities, and those recovering from surgery or accident.
Have a look at careforfamily.com.au who offer a range of in-house care that can suit whatever you need.
What Is Home Health Care?
This industry is quite broad and can mean various things to various people. On one hand, it means skilled health care and on the other hand, it refers to non-medical health care.
Non-Medical Home Health Care
This type of home health care is usually offered to seniors who require a little assistance with their daily activities; it does not involve any medical care. As opposed to checking into an old people’s home, these seniors do not want to trade the comfort they will get by remaining in their homes for any kind of assistance.
The services rendered by non-medical home health care agencies include the following:
- meal preparation
- general housekeeping
- helping them to get dressed
- running errands
- offering companionship
Skilled Home Health Care
This involves giving medical care to people in their own homes. It is not limited to seniors alone. Anyone who prefers having personalized medical care can benefit from this service. The services rendered are:
- nursing services
- occupational therapy
- physical therapy
- speech therapy
- wound care
- monitoring blood pressure
- psychiatric care
Skilled home health care is not limited to the services listed above. Click here to see other services which home health care companies provide.
3 Essential Services for Your Home Health Care Business
With the increasing number of people who are opting for personalized care in their homes, home health care businesses need to look for ways to satisfy their growing customer base. If you think that getting more staff may look like a good solution, does your business really need that now?
Employing more staff will help your business cater for more clients but your expenses will also be on the increase. And if your business is a small one, then you have to scout for cheaper ways to achieve an astounding result, or potentially explore home health care franchise opportunities and become part of an existing franchise, which can provide you with access to capital and ways to grow that may previously have been unattainable for you as a small, independent business.
There are various tools or services your business can subscribe to in order to reduce cost of operation and increase productivity. You may, for example, wish to look into how to become NDIS provider in order to give people confidence in your services, since you will have to make sure that you subscribe to NDIS standards in order to stay registered with them. In the end, you will have a large, satisfied customer base and more revenue. We will discuss three services which are essential for every home health care company.
1. Home Health Care Answering Service
Answering in-coming calls at any time of the day or night is critical in health care business. But that is a lot of work when added to the number of patients which health care providers need to care for. And patients expect their calls to be answered 24/7. So, if your home health care business is a small one, how will you cope? You may still miss some calls no matter how hard you try.
Partnering with home health answering service providers holds a lot of benefit for your business. Here are a few of them:
Emergency Clients
Sometimes, a client will have an emergency. If your client knows that you have an answering service that can be reached at any time, you will be the first to be contacted. In addition to that, a professional answering service will be able to talk to the client calmly while the client gets the emergency care that is needed.
After Hours Calls
While it is important to provide your patients with excellent health care, you also need to rest. The same applies to your staff. You can’t be available round the clock. But an after-hours answering service can be available whenever your patients call. The issue can be handled immediately, or a message will be sent to you. At least, you will not have to attend to calls such as a change in appointment when it is off-work hours.
Before you hire any answering service, ensure that they are trained in HITECH and HIPAA compliance. Such companies usually comply with updates on legislation concerning patients’ medical information.
Do you want to know about HITECH and HIPAA? Click here: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/security/laws-regulations/index.html
2. Electronic Health Records (EHR)
These are the digital versions of patients’ medical records. With EHR, you can update your patients’ records in real time. Also, care coordination will be improved as your patients’ records can be shared by different health care providers including hospitals, pharmacies, specialists, imaging centers, and emergency facilities.
According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HSS), electronic health records (EHR) will improve the administration of health care by increasing efficiency and reducing cost. Unlike the traditional paper medical record, time will be saved through automation of records.
Furthermore, transcription, filing, and storing of charts will be made simple as the information will be captured on the spot and stored in the cloud. The risk of making medical errors will be reduced when you use EHR and the quality of care you offer your patients will be improved.
3. E-Prescriptions
Instant messages, text, and emails have taken the place of various handwritten forms of communication. In the medical field, E-prescription is also taking the place of handwritten prescriptions. With this method, prescriptions can be sent to pharmacies from the patient’s home. This will help to reduce errors as a result of wrong interpretation of handwriting.
E-prescription works well with electronic health records as your patient’s condition can be checked alongside the prescriptions to know if there is any possible adverse effect. Consequently, the system will notify you of alternative medication for your patient.
Check out the benefits of e-prescriptions in this article.
Conclusion
In this article, we defined home health care and the services provided in both non-medical and skilled home health care. We also discussed 3 tools or services every home health care business can use to increase productivity while delivering optimum health care. We hope that the information provided will help you improve your business.