For aged care agencies, switching to digital healthcare systems can allow them to operate more efficiently and effectively while prioritizing an exceptional care quality. Keep reading as we explore the digital transformation of America's aged care industry, along with how healthcare providers can best use these modern health care tools.

Modern Digital Health Solutions for the Aged Care Industry

Aged care’s digital transformation has led to a wealth of new technologies being used on a daily basis. These include tools for remote patient monitoring, virtual patient consultations and more. Self-service technology allows patients to request the care delivery they need and prefer, while healthcare delivery is also facilitated by digital health technologies such as mobile apps.

For healthcare providers, one of the most valuable digital technologies is the healthcare software that brings their workforce, patient and business management systems onto one platform. This software comes with essential features such as a scheduler, accounting integration, documentation storage and access management, patient communications and more.

The Benefits of Digital Technologies for Healthcare Delivery

Healthcare providers will discover that digital innovation can bring numerous advantages. These include:

Care Coordination

Many recipients of aged care will need a variety of services and supports, especially if they also live with a disability or chronic health condition. Digital technologies can support care coordination across various care settings by ensuring that healthcare professionals can quickly share patient records.

Improved Patient Experience

Digital technologies will enable you to make the patient experience a priority. Aged care software for agency owners often comes with portals for patients and their approved loved ones. Patients can use these portals to request additional services, specific caregivers and more, as well as reviewing their services and billing information.

Time Savings

Home care software can save you and your team hours of admin work by automating routine tasks. Moreover, by bringing all your operations onto one platform, it can significantly reduce the amount of time spent on transferring data and double-checking information.

Compliance

Whether it’s HIPAA compliance or your team’s proof of eligibility to work, there’s a lot that your aged care agency has to stay on top of. Digital technologies can simplify this. You’ll be able to share information via a secure platform, ensuring that nobody has unauthorized access to patient data. Document expiry notifications, meanwhile, will mean you can rest assured that your paperwork will always be up to date.

Care Quality

Better care coordination, an improved patient experience and compliance with regulations governing patient rights: all this adds up to better quality care. When you adopt digital technologies for care delivery, you’ll often notice improved health outcomes.

How to Use Digital Technologies in Aged Care

Switching to digital tools can revolutionize healthcare delivery. You can use them for: 

Scheduling

Quicker, more effective scheduling is one of the biggest impacts of aged care’s digital transformation. You’ll be able to ask your staff to set their availability via their app and then build a schedule in minutes. You can also set up recurring and group shifts to save you time in the future. And by adding individual clients to each team member’s schedule, you’ll enable them to instantly access the patient information they need for care delivery.

Care Documentation

Use a cloud-based care documentation system to ensure that your team has secure access to updated patient information. You can also ask your team to complete progress notes via a mobile app for an electronic health record that’s automatically shared with everybody who needs access to it.

Goal Tracking and Care Plan Reviews

Goal tracking is an essential part of care delivery. With digital technologies, you can set patients’ goals and strategies as part of their care plan. Templates for progress notes will help you track how care delivery supports these goals. And when it’s time for a care plan review, you’ll have all the information you need on one screen to discuss the patient’s progress and if their goals or care plan need to be updated.

Billing and Accounting

You’ll be able to bring all your financial records onto one secure system. Integrate your home care software with your accounting and payroll systems so you can have shift records, expenses and income on the same platform. Ask your team to attach their gas receipts and other expenses to shift records. 

From here, you’ll be able to quickly generate accurate invoices and payroll data alike. You’ll also be able to auto-generate financial reports that give you a better understanding of your per-client and per-shift profits, expenses, and more.

A Digital Transformation for Your Aged Care Agency 

Switching to digital technologies will allow your aged care agency to improve patient outcomes and patient satisfaction levels alike. It will also save you and your healthcare team hours each week by reducing the time spent on admin tasks such as manually sharing patient information or confirming emails have been read.

ShiftCare’s care management software is built around the needs of healthcare providers and their patients. Record-keeping is made simple with our secure document management system for patient records and progress notes. The intuitive scheduler will help you build shifts in minutes. And you'll have all the tools you need to provide empathetic, patient-centric care, from their onboarding through to their care delivery and plan reviews.

Discover how the right digital technologies can help your aged care agency thrive. Try ShiftCare for free.