Misys Homecare Provides
New York-based Home Health Organization With a Way
to Better Manage Growth and Clinical Care
When IT managers at a homecare organization look
to technology to improve their processes, the last
thing they want is for that technology to increase
the amount of manual processes their colleagues
need to go through in order to complete tasks. Unfortunately,
that was the problem that Isabella Long-term Home
Healthcare encountered with its first technology
vendor.
“A couple of years ago, we began using a
vendor whose technology did not meet our needs,”
explained Linda Grillo, Isabella’s MIS applications
manager. “For one thing, in using their technology,
we had to do a lot of scheduling by hand. We found
it difficult to give up most of our manual processes.
The technology’s reporting capabilities were
non-existent. Basically, our needs far outweighed
what this particular vendor could deliver.”
This was a no-win situation for the staff at Isabella,
a fast-growing home health organization located
in New York. Isabella is home to 50 staff members
servicing over 410 patients across the Bronx and
Manhattan. Twenty of these staff members are field
nurses. With this kind of patient-to-staff ratio,
Isabella’s management needed a system that
would increase efficiency, not make it more difficult
for staff to catalog patient data through outdated
manual systems.
Needless to say, a change was in order, and Ms.
Grillo knew it. “I sent out request for proposals
to about 15 different vendors. We chose Misys Healthcare
Systems for several reasons, including their technology’s
great reporting capabilities and the company’s
excellent support record in comparison to the rest
of the industry. We haven’t been disappointed.”
Ms. Grillo purchased Misys Healthcare System’s
Misys Homecare technology, which provides home health,
hospice, and private duty organizations with an
easy-to-use product that improves performance, increases
the efficiency and effectiveness of staff, and greatly
benefits organizations’ bottom lines. Misys
Homecare enables staff to work more effectively
both inside and outside the office, and manage patient
care and clerical and financial functions with ease.
Misys Homecare is an integrated system that combines
business, clinical, and scheduling features into
a single package. It also helps organizations like
Isabella automate virtually all of their processes,
from record keeping, to scheduling, to statistical
reporting.
“Misys Homecare has been very helpful in
allowing us to get away from manual processes,”
said Ms. Grillo. “Manual scheduling is now
gone; we do all of that in Misys Homecare. This
system is working very well.”
In order to track the effectiveness of the system
– and to identify where most errors would
commonly occur under manual processes – Ms.
Grillo and her team instituted a randomaudit procedure
to track discrepancies between manual entry and
Misys Homecare’s processes. “The most
common errors were data entry errors,” said
Ms. Grillo, in reference to mistakes made during
manual entry – mistakes that have been greatly
reduced through the use of Misys Homecare. “Misys
Homecare has helped cut down on these errors.”
Correct data entry has led to speedier processes,
said Ms. Grillo, allowing Isabella staff to work
much more accurately and effectively, and increase
rate at which payments can be received. “With
Misys Homecare, things are getting done quicker.
We now have nurses on field devices that are making
sure that paperwork is getting done by lock-in dates.
If you don’t get something done by that date,
the service won’t get paid for. Now, with
Misys Homecare, nurses know if they’re on
time or not due to the scheduling system.”
These same nurses have also seen their effectiveness
in the field increase as a result of Misys Homecare.
“They can do their synchronizing, verification,
and everything else from home. The whole process
helps us keep track of regulatory timelines for
visits. This is especially important for regulations
such as OASIS™; you have to ensure that all
of your records are up-to-date within five days
after the visit, and Misys Homecare makes sure we
stay right on time. It’s just an easier way
to manage clinical care.”
Misys Healthcare Systems’ world-renowned
support team ensures that these processes continue
to work for Isabella, providing lightning-fast customer
service when needed. “Misys Healthcare Systems
has a great support system, which is always what
we have wanted,” said Ms. Grillo. “They’ve
even been known to send people out from the field
to review issues and resolve them in a timely fashion.
Plus, they notify you when things get done.”
What it all comes down to is a better way for Isabella’s
staff to manage their workload and for the company
itself to continue to grow. “Misys Homecare
has worked well for us. It has helped the organization
grow and become more effective.” In fact,
Grillo stated that the company has grown so quickly
that management has been increase the number of
seats by 50. “I attribute our ability to manage
this growth to Misys Homecare,” said Grillo.
