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HOW TO SELECT AN LTC SYSTEM
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Choosing the Right Long Term Care Information System
Choose the right Long Term Care information solution and you can immediately increase the effectiveness of your Clinical and Administrative
departments. Pick the wrong solution, however, and you can find yourself spending thousands of dollars for an overly complex system that goes
unused, wasting precious resources on an unproductive project, and compromising your facility’s ability to succeed with an LTC software solution.
So how do you make sure that you see a healthy return on your investment in LTC software?
Below are five questions you should ask before signing on the dotted line.
1. How much is it really going to cost?
Be sure to research all of the costs associated with each LTC Information System provider that you are considering. This means looking beyond
the official "list" price. Will it work on your existing equipment or will you have to invest in additional hardware to get the system up and
running? Will your organization require hardware upgrades on existing machines? Will you need to get new machines? How much consulting and IT
personnel support will you need for implementation, data migration, customization, training and upgrades? Make sure you have factored in all
of these costs so that you have a clear understanding of the total cost of ownership (TCO).
2. How long will it take to get up and running?
Once you've decided to improve your clinical and financial outcomes, you need to know how long it will take to get started in order to reap
the benefits. With some systems you can be up and running in a matter of hours. Others take months of implementation. You'll also want to
evaluate the required training time. How many days out of the year will you be required to pull your clinical and administrative staff off
of the floor to teach them how to use the system? Realistically, the more complex the Long Term Care Information System is, the more time
you can expect to spend on consulting and implementation, not to mention training.
3. Will my staff actually use it?
Even the best LTC information System is useless if you can't get your staff to take advantage of it. Look for simple, well-designed
applications that are easy to learn and easy to use. How intuitive is the interface? How much advanced training will be needed to
teach your people how to use it and how much lost productivity will that equate to? Does the service offer personal setup wizards
and online tutorials to help your staff ramp up quickly, on their terms, when it is convenient for them? The more complex the application,
the more training involved, and the more likely your staff will become frustrated with the process and go back to their "old" way of doing
things. Sometimes less is more - especially if it means more of the people in your organization will actually use the system.
4. Will it help my organization be more productive and deliver better care?
Managing the rigorous demands of clinical documentation and complex LTC accounting and administration can be a nightmare for most LTC
providers. Manual information management is plagued by duplication and inefficiencies, creating productivity leaks that detract from
care delivery. Many first generation computer systems are re-creations of a cumbersome manual process. The good news: some of the newest
LTC Information Systems can help you not only improve efficiency by streamlining processes and eliminating duplication, but also provide
timely information that empowers caregivers to make more informed decisions. Look for a system that can also reduce risk by ensuring regulatory compliance, increase
productivity with business office and clinical operations, provide better decision-making information and ultimately improve the
quality of care.
5. Can it help me understand what is happening at my facility and report on it more effectively?
Nothing is more frustrating than not being able to easily access data that allows instant reporting on how your LTC facility is performing. A
good LTC System can help. It makes it easy for clinical and administrative staff to make strategic and care related decisions. It also empowers
managers to instantly assess and report on organizational performance. The best LTC system can help managers create customized reports at the
click of a button.
Selecting the right LTC Information System is no easy task. Before you make your final decision, you need to have a clear sense of how much
it is going to cost and how long it is going to take to implement. That means you can't be afraid to ask tough questions. After all, you need
to make sure that the vendors you are considering are responsive to your needs. Look at their customer list to see if they have a track record
of serving companies like yours. If you can, see if they will let you use the system for a period without making a long-term commitment. You
should be able to try the product and walk away without penalty. The good news is that there are some very good products and services out
there to help you maximize your organization's potential. All you have to do is find the right one for you.
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Overview
Select an LTC System
