There is a growing trend of using home health aides to provide care for the elderly and the sick in their homes. This trend, however, poses a host of potential problems. For example, the cost of providing home health services has been increasing dramatically over the past few years. There are a host of other issues too.
To help solve these issues, mobile tools for home health aides and home health employee management systems like GPS tracking are becoming mandatory. This blog will look at the question of what mobile tools are available for home health caregivers and how GPS tracking can help.
According to data from December 2019, the unemployment rate in the healthcare sector was 2.1%. Additionally, healthcare is projected to be the fastest growing industry in terms of employment; with an estimated 14% growth from 2018 to 2028. This would add approximately 1.9 million new jobs in healthcare.
If you own a home healthcare business, you should be using mobile time clocking. This ensures that your employees are accurate in their punch-in and punch-out times. Timekeeping will be easier for you as well, because managers can see from their phones how your employees are doing.
Geofencing can restrict out-of-area punches, and schedule enforcement can restrict out-of-schedule punches. As managers, you will appreciate how easy it is to see what’s going on with everyone in the field. These tools can be set up quickly and are surprisingly affordable.
Why does Home Healthcare need Mobile solutions?
Home health caregivers have one of the most rewarding but difficult jobs out there. They often have to care for patients who are dealing with chronic pain, restricted mobility, and the general limitations that come with aging. This can be very challenging, both physically and emotionally. The last thing a mobile worker needs is to also deal with the hassle of logging work hours, scheduling uncertainties, or time card issues.
When your employees are constantly on-the-go, it can be difficult to manage their time and schedule. With employee’s commuting to different locations for appointments, you need a mobile app that is convenient and easy-to-use. With the caregiver arriving to help the patient with activities such as bathing, dressing, and breakfast, it’s important to document the patient’s vitals and administer medications. In addition, caregivers also have to do some light housekeeping tasks.
How does GPS Tracking help managers?
Being a manager is no easy feat, especially when you have to manage a large team. For example, what do you do when a caregiver wakes up with the flu and two others are already on vacation? The sick one can’t risk transmitting their illness to a patient, so the manager needs to find a replacement quickly.
Mobile time clocks can help you manage your team more effectively and efficiently. This way, patients receive the care they deserve. Plus, effective time management is key for controlling labor expenses.
Here are some of the benefits of GPS tracking that make day-to-day work a lot easier for Home Healthcare businesses.
Optimizing routes:
Oftentimes, physical maps can be confusing or misleading, and even if you have the route memorized, you might forget which turn to take. In many cases, home health providers are given a region or neighborhood. They then have to figure out the specific route to the patient’s home in a timely manner. GPS devices come in handy in these situations – they can help providers ensure they are following the right route to patients’ homes.
Mileage tracking with GPS provides an opportunity for exploration into new areas and routes for home health providers. With the help of GPS, caregivers can explore new routes to avoid traffic, road construction, or other potential delays.
The software provides reports that home health providers can use to determine which routes are better to take in order to minimize future delays. It also tracks miles automatically, freeing the caregiver from keeping track of miles for their expense reports.
Administrative Costs Reduction:
Automating tasks that would traditionally require a lot of manual labor not only saves time and money, but it also frees up employees to do other tasks that might be more beneficial for the company. For home health caregivers, GPS tracking is an excellent way to automate administrative tasks such as patient data input, which can be both time-consuming and tedious.
Automation, digitalization, and machine input can save you both time and money. You don’t have to have your staff members log their routes or report every step they take—you just start your tracker and you’re good to go.
The same goes for managers who dispatch personnel or log data. When you have a GPS tracker doing the heavy lifting, everything is logged automatically and you can generate reports within minutes by just clicking a button. This way, you cut down drastically on administrative costs and save a lot of time that could be better spent on more pressing tasks.
Monitor and calculate speed:
Caregivers provide an invaluable service to those who need help, but it’s important to keep track of their attendance to make sure they’re getting the proper compensation for their time.
The last thing you want is for a caregiver to be rushing to work and have an accident because he or she wasn’t following the rules. GPS tracking devices and apps can help ensure that caregivers are safe and responsible.
Data accuracy:
When employees are on a shift, it’s important to keep accurate time and location records. If a home health caregiver has been to the patient’s location, a comprehensive GPS tracking app can help in keeping track of their hours so the caregiver doesn’t have to manually record their hours and location every day.
Geofencing is a technology that can restrict out-of-area punches. If you have a time-tracking app that supports GPS, you can select specific locations for when your employees can clock in, such as the patient’s home. This way, you can be sure that the data you’re collecting is highly accurate and extremely valuable for reports, payroll, reviews, and crucial decisions such as whether to extend an employee’s hours or warn them for poor performance.
A direct link to the office
GPS systems are a great tool to improve your customer service. Although they can’t do much to prevent accidents or bad weather, apps can send you notifications about expected traffic delays and give your team the opportunity to contact customers in advance. This way, you can avoid potential problems and keep your customers happy.
With real-time technology, you can always know where your field service caregivers are. Besides knowing which patients your employees are visiting, it’s extremely helpful in cases of accidents—especially if an employee sustains an injury or is in a harmful situation.
With GPS tracking systems and apps, managers and others from the office can accurately find the location of employees who are involved in an accident. This is extremely important for you because you are responsible for the well-being of your staff. Knowing where they are safe is always a top priority.
Conclusion:
It can be challenging to keep track of caregivers’ activities, especially if you want to make sure that they follow the rules and perform their tasks properly and on time. But with a customized GPS tracking tool, you can know their location at all times during work hours—even when they’re on their way home!
The process of recording timesheets on paper can be very tedious and time-consuming. Not to mention, there’s always the risk of employees clocking in too early or even forgetting to clock in for a day.
With a customized GPS tracking tool, you can set the location of any of your patients’ homes and restrict caregivers from clocking in until they’re physically present. This way, you can ensure that employees are only clocking in when they’re actually at work – and not a minute before or after.
Most importantly, a GPS tracking tool provides you and your caregivers with complete peace of mind, enabling your business to focus on your customers—try it today!