Across the last couple of years, we have been emphasizing the importance of resident-centricity in aged care. Despite the social, economic, and health impacts that have been well documented in recent times, we still believe that placing the resident at the center of your organizational focus is of significant importance. Arguably, it’s now even more important for the years ahead.
The next wave of aged care residents lived through a modern economic transformation that taught them how to be effective consumers, and more importantly, that they have the freedom of choice. A desire for older Australian’s to stay at home longer has been a well-established trend in recent years too. Again, despite the extraordinary changes occurring across the world, it would be foolish to disregard these trends in consumer experiences and preferences.
As they have in the past, your resident’s needs will undoubtedly continue to change over time. Therefore, it is important to track their requirements and the resultant variations in their client record. Doing so builds a “true story,” with one single client record across their whole aged care journey from different rooms, to different location sites, to different types of care and medical needs. Such a 360-degree view of the resident’s profile provides a single source of truth for all required information, thereby enabling a proactive care approach and aiding effective business decision-making.
For example, one common diversification opportunity for aged care organizations is to provide both residential care and home care services. An effective business strategy for such a service mix would call for a deep understanding of your resident’s preferences, needs, and circumstances. Starting conversations online and being involved in relevant discussions around industry topics, whether through blogs, on social media, or community forums, is one way you could continue to learn more about your residents. Another effective method is online surveys, where you can more specifically pose questions about the resident’s needs, wants, and preferences. The mixture of qualitative and quantitative insights that can, therefore, be collected will help to make informed decisions regarding changes to your service mix.
Despite some perceptions that this technological approach may be less relevant for older generations, in fact, the opposite is true. Baby boomers are technology literate, and research has shown that this generation is driving the sustained growth in online activity. Notably, more than two-thirds of baby boomers are online, and they are as likely as any other age group to have broadband access at home. However, digital communication is but one tactic which aged care organizations could employ to build a deeper understanding of their residents. There is no limit on how creative or practical you can be, so think of ways in which you can capture valuable insights that aid your resident-centricity.
Your resident-centricity also requires the ability to engage with your resident’s broader support network. Email and SMS communications to families to maintain a vital information flow is one key component that should not be overlooked. This is particularly important in instances where visitation opportunities are limited or even not allowed, as has been the case recently.
Such communications not only provide a valuable and necessary flow of information, but they also serve to illustrate to the resident’s network the level of care and focus your organization has on such an important person in their lives. This, in turn, gives the decision-making cohort greater confidence to support the resident’s preferences to follow their aged care journey through your varied service offerings.
Business today is less about single transactions and more about interactions that lead to long-term relationships. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have taught us concepts that can have a valuable application in our enterprise solutions.
CRM modules in leading aged care software have social and mobile capabilities that foster collaboration within your organization in real-time, even with team members dispersed across different geographical locations. Equipping your team with access to the CRM system via handheld devices allows them to respond quickly to resident and internal correspondence, which can have tremendous customer service and productivity benefits.
When driven by the right software, collecting and storing all resident interactions enables users to have a high-level view of their residents which can be expanded into granular insights. These granular insights include everything from care needs to accommodation preferences, email correspondence, order history, and other attached documents. However, if your organization is not using integrated aged care software that covers the entire business, then you are less likely to have such capabilities.
When organizations use a wide range of disparate systems, the pressure on staff to keep up with information management tasks can be stressful, and prone to human error. The number of applications used by the average business has been steadily increasing over recent years, to a point now where companies with over 2,000 employees have an average of 129 apps. Close to 10% of businesses have more than 200 apps across their enterprise IT systems. To put it simply, if your organization fails to leverage the benefits of integration, you will be left behind.
Fit-for-purpose software solutions will be the base requirement for success in the decade ahead. Our PIMBRIC Framework, as outlined below, covers seven key criteria you would want to include in your aged care software evaluation process.
The PIMBRIC Framework
Purpose Built
Industry Compliance
Management Efficiency
Business Intelligence
Resident Centered
Integrate Everything
Cloud Deployment