Improving Hospice Operations by Having a Hospice Focused Software.
The Challenge
Hospice of Pamlico County, Inc. is an organization located in Bayboro, NC that serves the needs of terminally ill patients and their families in Pamlico, Beaufort, and Craven Counties. Their mission is to provide the highest quality end-of-life care and support to their clients and their families, and to enhance the purpose, dignity, grace, and fullness of everyday of life. As their census began to grow, they had systems and processes that were starting to become inefficient for the volume of patients they were serving. Their care plans were electronically generated while the rest of their documentation was on paper. There was a lot of shuffling of papers and tracking down documents to stay on top of care coordination and compliance. Reporting was cumbersome and taking a lot of time to transcribe key data to formulate insights. Executive Director, Tonya Jordan said, “At the end of the day, our patients are our top priority. Our service couldn’t be compromised by our processes. I needed to find a more efficient solution that was easy to use and that would allow us to grow with efficiency.”
The Solution
Led by Jordan, the staff at Hospice of Pamlico County began to evaluate other hospice software solutions. Her top evaluation criteria were that the solution was user friendly, within budget, and one that everyone liked. While her staff weighed in, it was the board that approved the final decision. “The ease of use of the Curantis software stood out immediately,” said Jordan. “You didn’t have to duplicate data entry, and everything is at your fingertips making it easy to find what you need quickly.” The team also looked at a few other systems, but they had too many steps or clicks and were not cost efficient for their agency. Her staff was all in favor of the Curantis Solutions software for how easy it was to use.
The Result
In addition to software, Hospice of Pamlico County also invested in laptops. Ms. Jordan would be the key knowledge holder and receive the software training and then train her staff on the software and new, more efficient internal processes. “The staff were very receptive and the training by Curantis was very accommodating,” said Jordan. “The Curantis team was articulate and helpful, and they made the transition very easy.” When asked about the improvements in efficiency, Jordan said, “We have absolutely saved time with using this solution. Since implementing Curantis, we save at least 6–8 hours bi-weekly with our IDT preparation and meeting.” “Curantis gives us the ability to track goals and interventions that we didn’t have in our other system, and we can track what we are doing to meet those goals in a timely manner allowing us to stay on top of patient care. I love that everyone can quickly get to the information they need. It has absolutely helped our staff to be more coordinated. It truly allows us to provide the best care possible.” Ms. Jordan loves the recert calendar that tells her when patients are coming due for recertification. She accesses the reports all the time for census, HIS, and other operational data that she needs throughout the week. When asked what her favorite thing was, she said, “My favorite thing about Curantis is that help is readily available. I love that I don’t have to wait for days for someone to respond. Support is always there when I need them.” As Hospice of Pamlico continues to grow, Ms. Jordan continues to discover new features within the system that save time and support her with managing care delivery efficiently.
Having the right hospice software solution can make all the difference in operational efficiency and morale. If your hospice is bogged down with manual processes, a lack of work-life balance, and poor support from your software vendor, it may be time to rethink your software.
