Empower Your Caregivers and Maximize Agency Growth with These Tools

Most home care agency leaders know that the success of their organization lies in the foundation of their caregivers. However, despite this, caregivers are often not equipped with the very tools that can increase their productivity and reduce their turnover rates. If your agency is at industry standard, it is likely that you are losing approximately 65% of your caregivers annually and are routinely declining new patients due to capacity issues. Both these factors significantly affect your bottom line. 

So what’s the solution? We have a round up of tools that have been shown, on average, to reduce caregiver turnover by 30%, increase caregiver productivity by 50%, and allow agencies to achieve a sustainable 33% average year-on-year growth rate. 

If you really want to streamline your operations you should look for ONE platform that incorporates all the tools you need. Multiple single-service platforms are so passe. 

Ability to Make Their Own Schedule

In most home care agencies, caregivers are handed a schedule by their coordinator. If a caregiver is unexpectedly sick, has unforeseen family issues or is a no-show, an agency using manual processes will need to scramble for a replacement. At best this takes unnecessary time for your coordinators, at worst it can lead to deteriorating patient care and under-utilization of authorizations.

So what’s the solution?

Take advantage of technology! A smart staffing solution can reduce your agency's workload and   empower caregivers to take control of their own time - on average they’ll be 50% more productive! The technology you choose should smart-match cases based on languages, geographic location, existing shifts and (most importantly) caregiver preferences. Best of all, cases should take mere minutes to schedule and be blasted out to all relevant caregivers via instant notification. You know how uber works? It’s kind of like that. 

Comprehensive Training Library

We surveyed caregivers and discovered that they REALLY want to be good at their jobs. More often than not, they are quite ready to learn new things and brush up on best practices in order to provide better care to those they serve. Unfortunately, caregivers are not always successful in more traditional in-service training environments. Meeting in person at 9 am for a training session after they have been working an overnight shift, or trying to learn new materials in a language that is not their first, can be unrealistic. It’s also a drain on agency resources - finding a nurse who is available (and can teach concepts well), trying to restaff your caregivers’ cases, finding solutions in multiple languages - it can be exhausting for everyone involved - and eat into your bottom line. And Orientation? By the time you gather enough new staff for a class your new recruits may have lost interest, or you can do it on a case-by-case basis and really eat into your staffing resources. No wonder it normally costs about $2700 to hire and orient a new caregiver. 

What’s the solution?

Give your caregivers the gift of on-demand education in their language of choice, right on their smartphone. You’ll never have to staff in-person training again. Look for a platform that offers a comprehensive library of topics suited for their role with engaging and interactive modules in their preferred language. Even better, find one that allows you to hire caregivers online AND offers a complete suite of Orientation courses tailor-made for your agency. Hire and orient in one day, staff new caregivers the next? It’s now possible. 

Online Documentation & Compliance 

Caregivers are more likely to complete their required documentation when they don’t have to pull out a paper record, schlep to the office, or endlessly scan in email attachments. Moreover, agency staff members are 90% more likely to retain their sanity if they don’t have to endlessly nag a revolving list of non-compliant caregivers (okay, so we made that stat up). 

The solution?

An online app that allows your caregivers to effortlessly complete all their documentation and compliance needs. This includes EVV records, patient clinical records, caregiver medical records, and general records - such as caregiver certifications and IDs. The app should send automatic notifications to your caregivers, so you don’t have to, and there should be easy tracking dashboards for agency members so they can see in an instant anyone who has missed clocking in or out, or has forgotten to upload a necessary document. 

Your caregivers are the heart of your agency. Give them the tools they need to feel inspired, empowered, and ready to provide the best care possible….and give yourself a break while you’re at it.