Scheduling and Authorization Management for Home Care Agencies - Addressing Staffing Challenges - Part 2

Second Article in the Series: Address Staffing Challenges. To read the first article on Revenue Cycle Management, please click here.

In the second article in the series on how home care agencies can navigate staffing challenges, we look at how efficient authorization management and scheduling can help home care agencies to get the most out of limited resources.

Authorization/Plan of Care Management

Integrated and effective authorization management is key to improving compliance with physicians' orders and authorization

Proactively monitor expiring authorizations and initiate the reauthorization process to eliminate the possibility of providing services without authorization.

By creating schedules from the authorization or care plans, agencies can stay within physicians' orders and authorized services.

Monitor and manage frequency compliance with the authorized plan of care through scheduled reports

Monitor and manage authorized hours and delivered hours for the authorization period

Monitor and manage authorized hours and dollar amount

Prevent staff from scheduling services beyond the authorization period and frequency

Ensure you schedule and deliver all authorized hours/visits to improve compliance, patient satisfaction, and revenue

We highlight below some aspects that emphasize the importance of effective scheduling to optimally use field employees, reduce uncovered shifts, minimize overtime, optimize travel time and reduce overall cost. This will improve operational efficiency in the scheduling area and the bottom line for home care agencies.

Easy to use schedule views for schedulers to manage demanding and ever-changing requirements effectively

Create schedules from authorization schedule templates to reduce schedulers' time and effort

Intelligent matching will provide schedulers with a list of available employees matching the needs and preferences of the patient.

Make shift offers to matching employees to all or a subset of matching employees – saves communication time for schedulers.

Publish open schedules to matching employees so that employees can apply for the shifts – This will give schedulers a list of employees willing to take the shift.

Reduce time spent on managing split shifts

Send schedule reminders to employees and patients to reduce missed visits or shifts.

Batch scheduling functions help schedulers manage employee call-outs, sickness, patient hospitalization, etc.

Configurable schedule validations to proactively detect scheduling issues and address them upfront

Automatically verify schedules for billing and payroll based on pre-defined validations – Saving time and cost

Revenue Cycle (Billing and Collections)

For agencies to be financially viable, timely billing and collections are essential. We highlight below scheduling and authorization aspects critical to creating a thriving revenue cycle:

Scheduling integrated with authorization will prevent schedules outside authorization and reduce non-billable shifts and claim denials

Configurable schedule validations to proactively detect potential claim issues and resolve them.

Automatically bill split shifts to appropriate authorizations reducing manual effort and potential collection issues.

Automatically split schedules at midnight for billing with correct dates.

Scheduling and payroll integration

Payroll Integration

Efficiently manage overtime, reduce overtime cost and manual efforts, and improve accuracy.

Tight integration with authorization reduces or eliminates paying for non-billable shifts/visits

Configurable payroll validations will proactively detect payroll issues, such as incomplete documentation, data entry errors, etc., and improve payroll efficiency

Split shift management will reduce manual efforts to pay appropriately for the services provided.

Configurable travel miles & time rules will help agencies pay appropriately for travel and will improve the bottom line by reducing manual efforts and travel cost

Work on payroll throughout the pay period without doing all the work on payroll day – reduce stress to payroll employees

Scheduling Platform to improve employee satisfaction for home care agencies

Employee Satisfaction

Effective schedule tools will help schedulers spend more time scheduling and less time reaching employees before confirming the shifts.

Intelligent schedule matching will help agencies schedule employees appropriately, reduce travel times and improve employee productivity.

The employee portal help agencies communicate with employees

Allow employees to select their shifts based on convenience by publishing open shifts and offers.

Schedule reminders to employees and patients will reduce missed visits

Improving the timeliness and accuracy of payroll will enhance employee satisfaction

Schedule reminders

Conclusion

CareVoyant understands that leveraging technology and automation to get more out of scheduling staff is critical for home health care agencies to meet the staffing challenge. CareVoyant's integrated scheduling functions and standard payroll interfaces with partners will improve the operational efficiency of the schedule management process and the bottom line of home care agencies providing one or more home base services - Private Duty Nursing, Non-Medical Personal Care, HCBS, Home Health, Pediatric Home Care.