QwestCare Home Health
Florida-based home health care agency saves hours on admin time while increasing caregiver satisfaction using Smartcare’s mobile point-of-care app.
Highlights
Smartcare Software helps Florida home care agency save hours on billing and scheduling while increasing caregiver satisfaction.
Before adopting Smartcare, QwestCare Home Health was not receiving full payments for shifts due to inefficiencies and workflow issues with their previous software provider.
Not only has Smartcare given QwestCare a simplified scheduling solution, but billing has also become more streamlined, and they are thriving with the efficiencies offered by Smartcare.
QwestCare attributes their time-savings and caregiver satisfaction to Smartcare’s easy-to-use software that includes dynamic scheduling, billing, and a mobile point-of-care app.
QwestCare Home Health
QwestCare Home Health is dedicated to helping its clients and loved ones maintain the freedom and lifestyle they deserve. Committed to meeting the physical, mental, and social needs of the clients, QwestCare’s knowledge and extensive experience working in the nursing and medical fields provide the highest quality home care.
Challenge
Working primarily with Medicaid, QwestCare needed their billing to be easy and error-free. What they found was a major workflow issue with their previous software, requiring their caregivers to clock out mid-shift.
Randy Rhames, owner of QwestCare Home Health, started looking into a new software platform that can accomplish billing and scheduling easily, and now understands the benefits of how the right software can save hours of admin time, as well as impact caregiver satisfaction.
“Smartcare has given me my weekends back.”
— Randy Rhames, Owner of QwestCare Home Health
Solution
After learning about Smartcare’s Bridged Shifts – or Auto Shifting – feature with unit-based fees that don’t require caregivers to clock in/clock out mid-shift to bill Medicaid accurately, QwestCare selected Smartcare Software as their partner of choice for their growing home healthcare business.
The benefits of this one feature are tenfold.
“I’ve saved so much time in billing and scheduling,” Randy explains. “With Smartcare’s bridge shifts, the caregivers don’t have to clock out mid-shift, which is huge because a lot of them refused to do it. I can also set up bulk scheduling, which is so much easier. Before, it took me 4 or 5 hours a week just to schedule. Smartcare is saving me at least 15-18 hours on billing and scheduling weekly.”
Caregiver satisfaction has also increased. “Our caregivers love the Smartcare app because it makes it easier for them to do their tasks. And since there are no glitches, it gives them more quality time to spend with their clients.”
QwestCare Home Health Saves Hours on Back Office Admin
Randy Rhames started QwestCare Home Health in March 2020 after a long, successful career as the Director of Operations at a national chain restaurant. Managing 54 restaurants, 200 managers, and 600 employees, Randy was well accustomed to managing businesses as well as people.
As he transitioned into starting a new home healthcare business, he was not initially involved administratively with the scheduling and billing. It was when he started getting more involved that he noticed QwestCare was paying out a lot in payroll but not receiving a lot of payments.
Working primarily with Medicaid, Randy began digging into his billing processes. What he found was a major workflow issue with the software he was using.
“There were a number of visits being rejected because of overlapping visits, improper coding, etc,” Randy explains. “The software would require the caregivers to clock out after the first authorization. They would forget to clock out, which was taking the first authorization past the authorized time. Then, the caregivers would clock out early on the second authorization, so we weren’t getting the full payment, and we were over-billing for the first authorization.”
At the end of each week, Randy was typically spending five hours fixing all the errors created by the software workflow issues and making sure that his company was not over the authorized times for each authorization. And with all of the editing and correcting, he understood that this could get him flagged from Medicaid.
Randy asked his previous software company how they could make it work so that caregivers don’t need to clock in and out with every authorization. They said, “Your caregivers will just have to be more disciplined.”
Easier said than done, Randy started searching for a new software platform.
Bridging the Gap with Smartcare Software
After Googling “home healthcare software” and seeing a few demos, Randy talked to one of his caregivers who said they’d previously used apps where they didn’t have to clock in and clock out for different authorizations, one of which was Smartcare.
“She was telling me how great the Smartcare mobile app was,” Randy explains, “and by that point, I had already seen a demo. I was really impressed with the amount of time that it would save me with billing. And not having to have the caregivers clock in and clock out mid-shift was huge, because a lot of them refused to do it.”
When Randy met with Smartcare’s Solutions Executives, he learned about Smartcare’s Auto Shifting – or Bridging – feature with unit-based fees that don’t require caregivers to clock in/clock out mid-shift to bill Medicaid accurately.
Smartcare not only meets EVV requirements but has developed proactive features such as visual KPI tools and unit-based billing to help manage adjustments, reducing the possibility of exceeding a state’s threshold.
“I bill nearly 1000 visits each week. It was taking me 5 hours each week just for billing with my old software. With Smartcare, it takes 5 minutes. It’s that easy, and it saves me that much time.”
– Randy Rhames, Owner
Saving Time with Smartcare Software
Not only is Randy saving time with billing, but he is also saving time with scheduling.
“I’ve saved so much time in billing and scheduling,” Randy explains. “With Smartcare, I can set up bulk scheduling, which is so much easier. Before, it took me 4 or 5 hours a week just to schedule. Smartcare is saving me at least 15-18 hours a week on billing and scheduling weekly.”
Increasing Caregiver Satisfaction with Smartcare
QwestCare employs 48 caregivers and cares for just as many clients.
Randy says, “Our caregivers love the Smartcare app because it makes it easier for them to do their tasks. And since there are no glitches, it gives them more quality time to spend with their clients. All of the feedback that I’ve gotten from our caregivers is that they love this app much more than what we were using before. It’s easier to use and navigate, add their notes, go through their tasks, check them off, and get signatures.”
Randy also plans to set up Smartcare’s integrated Caregiver Rewards system. He was very impressed with that part of Smartcare during the demo and how it can help retain caregivers in a competitive industry.
Time Saved is Time Well Spent
It’s safe to say that Randy is enjoying his new-found free time after switching to Smartcare.
“Smartcare has given me back my weekends,” Randy explains, “because I used to do a lot of my work on the weekends. As far as the back office admin, Smartcare has made it 100X easier for someone who doesn’t like admin to enjoy doing admin, because it’s not difficult. The reports that I can pull and look at for payroll and to check and balance out billing are 1000X easier than what I had before. Both scheduling and billing in Smartcare are outstanding.”
Advice for Admins Looking for a New Home Care Software
Randy has given his advice to admins that may be starting a new business or looking for new home care software.
“If you’re going to get new software, ask yourself how easy it’s going to be for you to do your scheduling and billing — those are the two most time-consuming home health company administrative responsibilities,” says Randy.
Randy then explains that in addition to being able to input information about your clients and caregivers, it’s important to find software that is easy to learn and operate, as that’s going to save you valuable time in the future.
His satisfaction and time-savings using Smartcare also translate directly to the satisfaction of his clients. Randy says, “I enjoy taking care of my clients. I make it a point to visit our clients — even if they live over 100 miles away — and make sure they are getting taken care of. It lets them see the face behind QwestCare.”
Free Up Hours of Your Day With a Care Platform that Does It All:
“Smartcare is saving me at least 15-18 hours on billing and scheduling weekly.”
— Randy Rhames, QwestCare Home Health