Workforce Management and the Challenges of Keeping Great Clinical Staff

Home healthcare and hospice organizations face unique and specific challenges in terms of keeping great clinical staff. For agencies that are focused on expansion, it is essential to prioritize staff retention, and one of the fundamental areas that matter most to staff is maintaining an organized and productive work environment. This type of environment is conducive to fostering more satisfaction as staff are able to provide the best level of care while reducing tedious daily tasks.

Following are three areas to focus on streamlining to improve workforce management and productivity within your agency.

Scheduling

Scheduling is one of the most prominent challenges affecting agency staff. A number of factors must be considered in order to properly manage scheduling of your HHA’s. The home health aides must be on site to provide care at the right time to their patients, and they must also be properly credentialed and trained to provide the appropriate treatment that the patient needs. Over time, HHA’s will often develop a close relationship with specific patients they see regularly, and maintaining consistency helps improve the experience for both staff and patients alike.

A good field management EMR like Thornberry can assist with matching patients to providers with the skills needed to provide appropriate care as well as forecast expected workloads based on historical data. Clinical managers are able to see at a glance the full availability of their team members so that they can more effectively manage clinical resources. This process enhances the quality of care provided while also maximizing the patient visit volume.

Improving Workflow

Technology allows home health and hospice organizations to more effectively manage workflow, which is incredibly important to ongoing staff retention. Where EMR technology in the past was not mandatory, it is now a competitive advantage and differentiating factor for agencies that want to prove to staff members that they are committed to providing the tools and resources they need to administer the highest standard of care.

With an EMR such as Thornberry, staff members can enjoy the benefits of a robust software solution that is built on best practices to maximize efficiency. Flexible workflows provide the best standard of care as well as help to identify referral opportunities, centralized scheduling, and enhance customization capabilities so that the software perfectly assimilates into the agency.