I recently attended the LASA Q Community Care Conference 2015 and was given an opportunity to provide a demonstration of my software, Care Collaborator. I spoke with some of the attendees and realised that there was some confusion as to the difference between Care Collaborator and a Client Management System.
I want to clear that up and to help with that I have created this flowchart detailing the systems for efficient delivery of home care.
Care Collaborator is used by your care advisor via a mobile device. This makes it easy to sit with the consumer to discuss their goals and what services they need to live independently in their home.
During this discussion, the care advisor will input information such as the consumer’s ACAT assessment and financial details into Care Collaborator. Once services are agreed, Care Collaborator calculates the income and expenditure and completes the budget.
The Home Care Agreement, Care Plan, Service Schedule and Individualised Budget can then be reviewed by the consumer. They can sign the documentation via the mobile device completing the process and enabling services to commence immediately.
In most cases, the current manual process includes collecting the data via a spreadsheet, taking it back to the office and re-keying it into the Home Care Agreement, Care Plan & Individualised Budget and then having to re-visit the consumer to review and obtain a signature. Then, if any changes need to be made, this process would have to be repeated making it inefficient and expensive.
Using Care Collaborator differentiates you from other organisations by being able to complete the sign up process efficiently and starting services in a timely manner.
As shown on the chart, the information collected in Care Collaborator can be integrated into your Client Management System, making it an efficient process with no re-keying of data and reducing the risk of error.
Other benefits of using Care Collaborator include:
- No need for your care advisors to be based in the office as everything is done online. This makes for an efficient staffing model with little non-chargeable time.
- No printers need to be carried around by your staff as the documentation is emailed to the consumer/carer immediately once the document is signed. You can also arrange a hardcopy be sent out to the consumer/carer if requested.
- Supporting your front line staff by providing technology which assists them with the process of generating the required documentation, whilst still being able to focus on the consumer, thereby increasing their job satisfaction.
