John Cox
Jun 30 2022
Reading Time: 3 minutes
By: John Cox, Customer Support, CitusHealth
In this blog series, our CitusHealth employees share personal stories about their experiences having family members and loved ones in home-based care—and how technology could have led to more positive outcomes.
In the fall of 2021, my family and I made the difficult decision to place a relative in a large, well-known skilled nursing facility located a couple hours away from our home. When we arrived to drop off my relative and help them settle in, we were shocked to find they had zero electronic processes for intake.
We had to fill out all paperwork manually, answering repetitive questions over and over by hand—such as name, address, insurance information, and contact details.
During intake, we also had to sign up for palliative care. And even though we selected the same company’s services, those groups didn’t communicate with one another and had no connected system—which meant we had to fill out the same paperwork again, manually.
As an employee of CitusHealth, a company that is committed to reducing these manual processes, I was surprised to see a facility still relying on such archaic intake methods. And I also knew that at some point, two different registration resources were going to have to place all that data inside their system—scanning documents and entering information multiple times.
In the end, it took well over an hour to get through their registration process. It was an inefficient mess, for both us and the facility, and I knew there was a better way.
Patient portals enhance the patient and family experience
Once we were home and had to check in on our relative, we were once again reliant on manual methods of communication. There was no patient portal to view care notes or message staff. Instead, we had to call the facility, wait on hold for up to 20 minutes while they tracked down the nurse, who then had to be pulled from her rounds and patients to talk to us. We often felt guilty, pulling the nurse from patient care just to provide updates over the phone.
This was a stressful time, putting a loved one in a facility to receive 24-hour care. And while my relative truly did receive high-quality care from fantastic staff in this SNF facility, our experience would have been enhanced had everyone been better connected.
Elevating care with a digital approach
When processes are manual and reliant on paper, the potential for error is higher, it’s repetitive, and it’s time-consuming for staff who can be better utilized caring for patients.
With an all-in-one digital platform, forms and documentation are electronic, signatures can be made electronically, care notes are easily accessible, and chat threads allow for real-time communication between staff and families. This approach to SNF care leads to a more positive experience for family members, more efficient operations, and more time spent on what matters most—patient care.
Ready to ditch the manual paperwork in your facility’s intake process and take your communication to the next level? Request a demo today and we’ll show you the difference CitusHealth can make for both your staff and those they serve.
