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SPONSORED FEATURE: ECASE SOFTWARE
Prepare now for the shifting aged care landscape
There is a growing desire for ageing in place – are your business and clinical systems ready for this shift in consumer demand?
Australia’s home care sector is continuing to grow and evolve in line with consumer demands. At the same time, government policy designed to help older Australians delay or avoid entry into residential aged care is further supporting the growth of the sector with a supply of additional home care packages.
The predominant challenge, however, remains workforce. Many providers are turning to digital platforms to help them navigate staffing challenges, a trend which is expected to grow with the anticipated 2025 Support at Home program.
Paul Brindle – chief executive officer of Health Metrics – says he has observed increased demand from aged care providers for systems that can support an ageing-in-place service model.
We’ve achieved a saving of 14 hours of staff time a week
“Over the past 12 months we’ve seen a significant increase in aged care providers looking to eCase to help them meet this shift in demand towards a continuum of care model.
“Early innovators in delivering a continuum of care model include LDK Seniors Living and Odyssey Health Group. Both have been using our eCase software platform to help them manage delivery of services to their residents for several years,” Brindle tells Australian Ageing Agenda
The growing desire for people to be able to age in place is matched with an expectation that all required services will be available – from daily household tasks through to the advanced clinical care required by those with higher levels of acuity.
As more people age in place the acuity levels and the clinical care required will increase, and providers are going to need qualified staff and best-in-class systems to deliver those services, says Brindle.
“Our eCase software platform offers the breadth of clinical capability that will be required by aged care providers to achieve client satisfaction – while also meeting changing compliance and governance requirements,” says Brindle.
“Our focus is 100 per cent on the Australian and New Zealand aged care industries and we take a partnership approach to working with our customers to make sure we are meeting their business and client needs.”
Key drivers for change
At the recent eCase Conference in Melbourne, renowned demographer Simon Kuestenmacher, co-founder of The Demographics Group, shared shared his evidence-based vision of the future of aged care and how to address our greatest demographic challenge – an ageing population.
With the 85-plus cohort set to double in 14 years and a declining aged care workforce, Kuestenmacher believes changing aged care service models is paramount – and the “growth opportunity for providers is gigantic.”
Ensuring providers have the right technology and systems in place to support the delivery of those care services will be critical to business success, says Brindle. And again residents and family members will expect contemporary systems to support the delivery of person-centred care – by the right carer at the right time and in the right place, he adds.
eCase – a scalable platform to support home care businesses
Brindle expects that new regulatory programs and the trend towards ageing in place will continue to drive change to the make-up and profile of providers and their services.
“The market is dynamic at the moment. Over the past 12 months we’ve seen a 2 per cent increase in the number of home care providers within the sector. We continue to see merger and acquisition activity as providers seek to achieve scale and it’s likely the new Support at Home program will drive further change and consolidation in response to increased regulatory requirements,” he says.
One of the key challenges home care providers face is getting the right balance of time spent on direct care, versus time spent on care management and administration tasks.
StewartBrown’s latest benchmarking data (March 2024) shows care recipients are currently receiving only 3.12 hours of direct care per week out of 5.13 staff hours.
Deploying contemporary technology systems that can help care workers complete the required administration tasks faster and more easily, or indeed empower clients to self-manage their care experience, is a step towards giving more time back to care delivery.
“Over the past 12 months we’ve seen many aged care providers prioritising the review and deployment of home care business systems as they prepare for the forecasted growth in demand for care to be provided at home,” Brindle tells AAA
Making sure your staff enjoy using the software is absolutely critical to take-up and adoption.
“We’ve invested significantly in our eCase software platform to provide staff and clients with rich functional capability and a positive user experience. Workforce attraction and retention is one of the greatest challenges for the care sector and in our experience making sure your staff enjoy using the software is absolutely critical to take-up and adoption,” he says.
“We’re also sitting right on the edge of a significant change to the make-up of our aged care workforce, with a quarter of our current aged care workforce aged 55 or older, as The Demographics Group’s data shows. A younger workforce, and one where English is not necessarily the first language, will drive even greater need, if not an expectation, for intuitive AI-driven software that supports staff in delivering a positive care experience to their clients.”
Ali’s Home Healthcare recommends eCase
Ali’s Home Healthcare has implemented eCase to help deliver services to more than 300 clients. After conducting a market scan, Ali’s Home Healthcare director Kelly Seed concluded that eCase was the only software product that would meet their needs as the business grew.
“eCase stood out as the home care solution that could meet our business needs today as well as offer the functionality and scalability we will need as we grow,” Seed tells AAA.
“We’re committed to achieving strong business growth over the next five years and eCase is the right system to support us on that journey.”
Ali’s Home Healthcare has deployed eCase Home Care across the organisation and is taking advantage of its rich client and workforce management, clinical care and scheduling capabilities to streamline its business processes.
According to Seed the eCase Client Portal has been a real game-changer for the business, delivering an improved client experience as well as achieving time and cost savings.
The client portal provides clients with the convenience of a self-service approach as they can simply log in at any time to view their schedule and carer details.
“We’ve achieved a saving of 14 hours of staff time a week, as a result of clients using the eCase Client Portal to view and confirm their schedule instead of calling us,” says Seed.
“In addition, our communication costs have reduced significantly as we’re no longer sending client confirmations of their appointments by text or by phone,” she says.
“Our clients love the client portal as it gives them convenient and easy access to their schedule. They are already asking for us to give them access to more information, which we will look at in the future in line with our commitment to empowering our clients to make decisions relating to their care.”
Seed also observed that their recent annual audit process was significantly more efficient with eCase in place. By providing the auditors with access to eCase, they were able to easily find the information they needed in a single place.
“Often the audit process results in a degree of business disruption and takes us away from our core business as we work to provide the audit team with the information they need. Our last audit was very efficient – and the feedback from our auditors was that eCase was fantastic and made their job a lot easier,” Seed tells AAA
During the training phase Seed assured her staff by saying: “if you can use the Facebook app or your banking app on your phone – you’ll have no problems using eCase.” It proved true.
“Our staff love eCase and they are using it well, which ultimately means improved outcomes for our clients. And it also means a better experience for our staff, which is very important to us as a business.”
CONTACT HEALTH METRICS
T: 1800 810 061
E: enquiries@healthmetrics.com.au
Taking care of care across life’s journey with a single, unified platform
The eCase software platform caters for the complex operational, regulatory, scheduling and clinical care capabilities within a single unified system presenting providers with opportunity for improved efficiency and business growth. It offers:
• Reduction in systems complexity: By simplifying IT infrastructure providers can reduce IT overheads and costly integration
• Greater transparency: Removing data silos across individual business areas delivers improved transparency and accurate data to support better business decision-making
• Scalability: Easily adapt to changing business and client requirements with systems designed to scale and grow with your business
• Deploy systems of choice: Enjoy the flexibility to deploy systems of choice and take advantage of new technology or functional capability as they become available
• Risk reduction: A single client record across the entire care journey supports a low-risk transition as clients move from one care model to the next.
5 trends driving the evolution and growth of the Australian home care market
Preference for ageing in place: baby boomers are showing a strong preference to remain in their homes, rather than moving to residential aged care facilities
Technology integration: the availability and take-up of telehealth services and remote monitoring technologies has accelerated, enabling healthcare providers to monitor patients’ health remotely and provide more timely interventions
Smart home technologies: devices like smart sensors, emergency alert systems and home automation tools are being used to enhance people’s safety and independence
Quality and safety standards: the introduction of new quality and safety standards via the Support at Home program will support improved levels of care for home care recipients and improve accountability and transparency in the home care sector
Expansion of private providers: an increase in the number of private home care providers offering a range of services from basic domestic assistance to specialised nursing care
