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The importance of accurate documentation in a community is evident in staff efficiency, revenue generation, family satisfaction, and, of course, liability management.
The impact of the staffing crisis is that the day-to-day operations in most communities can be chaotic and unorganized. Accurate documentation outside of EHR accuracy seems a lost cause. Staff do not have time to execute all of the tasks on their plate, and as a result, they are forced to focus on the most immediate and important items.
This means management oversight, measurements, or repeatable processes become an afterthought. Staff do not have time to track their activities, track the activities of residents, or take the extra steps for data collection. In addition, they often miss the opportunities to engage with their workplace, which overall contributes to a sense of accomplishment and community.
Because of the chaotic environment, it is nearly impossible to have consistent data collection, training patterns, or processes. Many staff then only have institutional knowledge, which is also not scalable and leads to more inefficiencies.
This results in:
- A failure to collect valuable data
- The inability to track employee activity beyond hours
- Inconsistent services to residents
- A lack of performance-based incentives
- Less meaningful work for staff
- Redundant and inconsistent processes to address problems
It’s an ongoing cycle. The main takeaway is staff cannot capture chargeable services - they do not have an accessible, consistent manner. When staff interactions go untimed and additional services go undocumented, you lose revenue. The systemic inefficiency, the lack of data entry and the lack of insight, further compounds staffing issues with revenue loss.
The Way Forward
How to optimize revenue and costs together.
Accurate task documentation can help in both retaining staff and optimizing revenue and costs.
Imagine a scenario where staff can document their tasks in the regular flow of their day without the need to open an app or sit at a desk.
We provide two scenarios below:
Scenario 1 - John is doing rounds and visits Mary in Apartment 202. He provides toileting and grooming as a part of his rounds. While present, Mary asks John if he can help with her hearing aids and with making a call to her friend. John is with Mary for two extra services and an additional 20 minutes. When John finishes with Mary, he moves on to his next resident, and at the end of his day, he updates the EHR that he has completed all of his tasks.
Scenario 2 - Jane moved into an AL community 6 months ago. She tells her daughter that nobody talks to her and that she never gets help when she asks. Jane’s daughter is angry and sets up a meeting with the community. The community ED checks their thorough documentation and discovers that Jane spends an additional 15-20 minutes interacting with staff after receiving her daily care. She also did two puzzles this month with the help of the activities team, attended three activities, and had staff sit with her several times in the library discussing some of her favorite books.
When Jane’s daughter comes in, the community shares this with her. It’s a difficult conversation but an honest one where the ED can provide actionable, relevant next steps.
Based on the above, are any of these statements true about your employees?
- The organization provides them with the tools to do their job.
- They are motivated to do a great job.
- Everyone charges for extra services.
- Residents and their families respect their valuable time.
- Staff recruits others to work in the community.
- Salary doesn’t matter.
Probably not.
What if there was a way to have all staff activities documented, with time stamps and enough detail, so everyone has complete insight into the care each resident receives?
For John and his fellow staff in Scenario 1, they could then be confident that:
- Management sees extra work and potentially charges for it, increasing the value of their services.
- Families see all the work provided, and instead of complaining, express gratitude and offer assistance.
- Because residents and families have more insight, a support system can evolve, improving the community and staff morale.
- Because recognition and rewards are more frequent, they are motivated to engage further and do even more.
- They know their contributions are valued and help the community make more money.
- Their community is a positive environment to work in (which is hard to find) and worth referring other workers to.
- Increased satisfaction and higher pay mean they do not have to look for a position in another community.
In Scenario 1, John cannot easily document his tasks, meaning no one knows about extra services provided.
In Scenario 2, interactions with resident Jane are all documented, facilitating meaningful conversations about her care and enabling proper billing.
Thorough documentation facilitates meaningful conversations with families about resident care and enables proper billing.
Win-Win: A fully accessible interface linking to a service catalog enables staff to easily document tasks and ensure all services are billed.
Innovating Revenue Capture
The benefits of a fully accessible interface!
The solution is a fully integrated services catalog with a simple concept and interface that combines staff efficiency with the ability to collect more revenue.
First, providing a user interface usable by all acuity levels is a must. Yes, apps and web portals are a given, but the use of voice technology and multi-modal devices (voice, touchscreen, visuals) enables all levels of residents access to services, status, and content.
Second, a robust services catalog, which tracks all services across all disciplines, can be accessible to all parties. And finally, the ability for staff to do data entry during the regular flow of their day, using voice and multi-modal technology, connects staff, services, and residents and their families to drive more revenue and improve the experience for the entire ecosystem.
In a fast-paced care environment, the best method for documentation is using secure, hands-free, voice-enabled devices.
The Efficiency Dividend
A solution designed for better resource allocation.
The solution's simplicity stems from using the appropriate technology at the right moment and investing time upfront to ensure success. In a fast-paced care environment, the best method for documentation is using secure, hands-free, voice-enabled devices. It is really very simple.
When staff engage with residents in an apartment or common area, they speak about their activities and let an AI engine categorize and store the interaction. In parallel, creating a services database that can match those services with a billing code can automatically update the resident record, and the staff that is speaking closes the loop with two significant, immediate benefits:
- Staff is free to do their jobs without interruption while still capturing data, freeing up valuable staff time
- Services are captured and aligned with measurable business goals
It's straightforward for your staff: use voice commands in a hands-free setting, utilize an app for on-the-go tasks when you can tap and swipe, and access the web for report viewing and automated billing through APIs.
How effective task documentation improves staff retention, revenue, and costs.
So, are documenting day-to-day tasks really that important? Aren’t there bigger issues to tackle? Big things start with small steps. It IS a big deal. Simple task documentation costs money, impacts resident satisfaction, and changes the culture. In this time of a staffing crisis, the impact on staff reverberates throughout your business.
Empower your staff with modern tools that take their needs into account. Define your services and the costs, and be more proactive while driving revenue with operational data. Your staff is more satisfied, so they deliver better services, they recruit, they believe, and your residents feel the benefits. And all the while, you’re capturing more services, have more transparency, and are better able to scale because you have repeatable processes. Saving staff time and driving more revenue are intrinsically connected.
Explore innovative solutions for task documentation.
Start by reaching out to us to take our ROI survey and ask yourself the questions that will challenge your view of the importance of the change we are enabling. Survey your staff, walk the halls, and measure the impact that is possible. Define your services, apply scalable processes, and adopt technology that empowers your staff to do more of what they are good at with less data entry while capturing more revenue.
