Assisted living facility software is senior care software designed to help assisted living staff efficiently manage the day-to-day operations of an assisted living facility. This type of software streamlines processes, such as scheduling and tracking appointments, managing resident records and medications, handling billing and payroll tasks, providing meal plans and other services for residents, and creating and maintaining reports.
The best assisted living software is designed to intuitively help with the different levels of care provided in an assisted living facility, with tools that enable staff members to quickly find the information they need. It also includes features that ensure compliance with state government regulations and help manage safety within the facility. By automating many of the tasks associated with running an assisted living facility, this type of software can save time and money while improving the quality of care.
It is important to understand that there is a difference between the levels of care provided in an assisted living facility and a Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF). These differences are reflected in assisted living software, which is why facilities must choose an appropriate elder care software vendor carefully.
The different levels of assisted living care provided are the following:
- Level 1 Care: This is basic assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs) such as bathing, dressing, grooming, ambulation, and eating. This type of care provides the least amount of help and usually does not require the assistance of medical professionals but instead that of staff members trained in assisted living services.
- Level 2 Care: This level of care requires more attention and effort from assisted living staff. Residents are provided with nursing services, such as medication administration, wound care, monitoring vital signs, and assistance with complex ADLs, such as transfers, toileting, and incontinence management.
- Level 3 Care: The highest level of assisted living services available, this may require the assistance of medical professionals in addition to assisted living staff, as residents in these contexts tend to have mental or physical impairments that affect their ADLs and require total assistance from assisted living facility staff.
Meanwhile, some of the differences between a skilled nursing facility and an assisted living facility are:
- Environment: In assisted living facilities, the goal is to provide a supportive environment where residents can live safely and independently with assistance from staff and other caregivers. Residents typically have their own room or apartment, enjoy three meals per day, have access to social activities and services, and receive help with activities of daily living. In contrast, skilled nursing facilities provide a more clinical environment in which residents receive more intensive care and rehabilitation services from medical professionals.
- Cost: Generally, assisted living facilities are more affordable when compared to skilled nursing facilities, as the national average cost for a stay in an assisted living facility is $4,500 per month. Assisted living fees typically cover room and board, activities, meals, utilities, and other services, such as housekeeping and laundry. Skilled nursing facilities, on the other hand, charge higher rates on account of the greater number of medical services provided. Private rooms have a national average cost of $9,034, while semi-private rooms will cost $7,908 per month
- Medicare insurance coverage: Medicare Part A provides coverage for some medically-necessary services in an SNF, such as short-term rehabilitation after an injury or illness. As for Medicare Part B, it covers medical services like doctor visits, lab tests, and preventive care. But Medicare coverage does not apply to assisted living facilities, meaning residents must pay out of their own pockets for those services.
By understanding the differences between SNFs and assisted living facilities, assisted living software vendors can create better solutions for assisted living facility staff and residents alike. Such technology, in turn, allows teams in assisted living to spend more time focusing on providing high-quality care instead of worrying about administrative tasks. Next, we will look at some of the advantages of using assisted living software.
Advantages of Using Software for Assisted Living
Software for assisted living helps teams quickly find the information they need, ensuring compliance with state government regulations and helping to manage safety within the facility. However, this comes with a price. Assisted living software vendors often charge high prices for their services, which can sometimes turn off facility administrators from the senior care software.
This is why one must first understand the advantages that assisted living facility software offers to better conduct a cost-benefit analysis. Such benefits include the following:
- Easier data handling: Data is essential for providing accurate and timely reports on resident care, tracking services rendered, and ensuring compliance with regulations. Assisted living software allows administrators to track and monitor residents’ ADLs in real time, ensuring that appropriate care and attention is provided to all the residents in the facility.
- Enhanced communication: In assisted living homes, nurses, social workers and other staff members use assisted living software to communicate important information securely and coordinate activities and care quickly and easily. Additionally, assisted living software also facilitates communication between staff and family members by way of a family portal.
- Conflict-free resident and resource scheduling: With assisted living software, staff can easily view each resident’s schedule and see which resources they are scheduled to use to identify potential conflicts and rearrange schedules as needed. In addition, assisted living software can help track resource usage, ensuring that everyone has access to the resources they need when they need them.
- Automation of repeated processes: Automating reminders for medication and ADLs allows staff to focus on providing better care to residents instead of spending time on tedious and repetitive administrative tasks. Furthermore, the senior care software can even integrate with existing systems in the facility, making it easier for staff to access data and monitor resident health.
Taking the time to understand these benefits can help administrators determine whether assisted living software is the right choice for their facility. For those administrators who are still skeptical about using this software, an assisted living software demo would be best way to go, as staff get the opportunity to experience the software firsthand.
Contact us here if you would like to demo our award winning assisted living facility software.
The Top 4 Assisted Living Software in the Market
Choosing the best assisted living software for your facility can be difficult, with all the long-term care software providers currently available. To help with this, we have put together a list of the top four assisted living facility software systems on the market. From care management to billing and accounting to the powerful capabilities of eMAR software, the benefits of these systems help assisted living facilities to operate more efficiently and effectively.
1. NetSolutions by Experience Care
NetSolutions is an assisted living software that offers comprehensive, integrated solutions for assisted living providers. Voted the best value software for assisted living, this assisted living software helps to streamline and automate billing, scheduling, care management, and more. Some of its core defining features include the following:
- Assisted living Service Tracker system
- A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system
- KPI dashboards for performance review
- The CareMetrics data analytics tool
2. ECP
ECP is a cost-effective, web-based software solution that can be tailored to the needs of any size assisted living facility. Designed for the assisted living software market, ECPs integrated solution offers the following:
- eMAR software
- EHR software
- CRM software
- Billing software
With assessments, care charting, alerts, task lists, and reports available through the ECP platform, caregivers are able to improve care for their residents.
3. Cerner CareTracker
CareTracker is designed to mitigate risk in long-term care facilities and maximize potential reimbursement opportunities. It streamlines the documentation process so that tedious tasks become more efficient. Targeted solutions take the guesswork out of analyzing patient data, allowing facilities to make decisions with confidence. CareTracker also provides the following tools:
- PowerChart EHR software
- Point of Care
- Clinical intelligence analysis and
- Financial management
4. Netsmart myUnity
Experience a secure, cloud-based EHR system with Netsmart myUnity. Intuitive and compliant, this all-in-one system makes compliance and user-friendliness a priority. The platform will reduce errors throughout your organization, mitigating instances of duplicate documentation and speeding up processes as well. Features offered include the following:
- Care Coordination
- Data Analytics
- EHR
- Electronic Visit Verification (EVV)
- Eligibility Management
The assisted living software systems listed above each have unique features, but if you are looking for a comprehensive, integrated assisted living solution, then NetSolutions by Experience Care should be at the top of your list. With its Service Tracker software, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, KPI dashboards, and high customer satisfaction rate, this assisted living software will help to automate and streamline many processes within your assisted living facility.
Implementation Challenges of Assisted Living Facility Software
As we conclude, it is worth mentioning some of the challenges to expect when implementing assisted living facility software at your facility. Some of the barriers impacting assisted living software adoption include the following:
- Insufficient financial resources
- Lack of software integration and data transfer capabilities
- Insufficient staff IT know-how
- Insufficient staff training.
To help with EHR training and ease the software adoption process, Experience Care offers free EHR training resources that can be accessed by both customers and non-customers.
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