Using Technology to Take Care of the Caregivers

By Matt Phillion

In post-acute care, there is an industry trend actively focusing on empowering caregivers, using technology to help reconnect staff to the reason they got into healthcare in the first place. The lack of connection to that joy is part of what is fueling the caregiver staff retention crisis, with turnover rates in the home care industry alone approaching 80% nationally.

How can organizations leverage new and emerging technologies to reduce administrative burdens and staff burnout while enabling the opportunity for more hands-on care?

“The industry has been facing a labor and workforce challenges for over a decade, but I don’t think people truly are addressing it with the urgency it needs,” says Navin Gupta, CEO of Viventium, which offers an industry-leading payroll, HR, and compliance platform purpose-built for healthcare providers. “What’s missed in this conversation is that, to be successful, you need a thoughtful strategy to enhance administrative operations, recruitment of staff, and the employee experience.”

This is where an industry-specific workforce management platform enters the conversation, Gupta explains.

“When you think about staff, and how quickly you can find the right workforce, ask: what does my applicant tracking process look like? And how quickly can I onboard them to get them to their first shift?” says Gupta. “And then, how do I keep them engaged, especially during that first 90 days?”

There is a threshold, Gupta notes, that if you can keep a staff member engaged and thriving for the first 90 days, they will feel fulfilled at work and be more likely to stay with the organization.

“Add the burden of tracking training, licensing, and certification to this. There are real issues if you don’t get these right,” says Gupta. “How do you manage all of that?”

But if you’re able to get ahead of all these administrative tasks to get staff onboarded and thriving in their roles, the difference is palpable, Gupta says.

“With these administrative tasks taken care of, what’s left is for staff to really take care of their clients,” says Gupta. “The attention those patients receive dramatically improves.”

Leveraging the right solutions

When it comes to a universal topic like staffing shortages, Gupta points out that it’s important to not lose sight of the unique challenges the industry faces in addressing this problem. Healthcare’s staffing and burnout issues are not the same as every other industry.

“The healthcare industry has an issue of high turnover and staffing shortages, and providers should have the ability to handle complex scheduling needs across different times and locations while being compliant with the strict labor laws, the ACA, and other compliance areas. There are also challenges with pay calculations and pay complexity, and then there’s the overall drive to reduce burnout, improve retention, and improve satisfaction,” says Gupta. “How does tech do that?”

There’s no single magic bullet technology solution, he says.

“It’s more about how we empower these caregivers to rediscover their purpose and joy,” says Gupta. “What if care staff can have more visibility into their shifts and more control over what their day looks like? What if they have more control over the hours they work and the ability to take on additional shifts?”

Gupta also points to the importance of transparency and clarity in how care staff are getting paid.

“Say a caregiver is paid $1,200 this week, but they worked across multiple locations. If we can show them a clear breakdown—here’s the hours you worked, here’s the differential, here’s the overtime—that’s comforting,” says Gupta.

Technology also offers the ability for things like credentials verification and exclusion monitoring to ensure staff are scheduled where they belong—making sure they’re not on an exclusion list for a specific duty or that their licensing is nearing time for renewal.

“AI’s become the big conversation topic, but we were doing this even seven or eight years ago for things like predicting the likelihood of a senior having a fall,” says Gupta. “The same applies now with predictive planning. What is my schedule going to look like in the next week, and how can I use that to optimize my workplace spend? That’s at the heart of it. Using technology to help caregivers to feel seen and supported.”

Technology has plenty of generic options for administrative tasks, Gupta notes, but these catch-all options usually aren’t designed for the nuances required for healthcare.

“They don’t know the market and don’t understand what caregivers need,” he says. “We talk about labor issues as monolith, but there’s very granular stuff that needs to be taken care of.”

Take onboarding, for example.

“In our research study, The Caregiver Onboarding Experience Report, we found that the there are things providers can immediately do to improve the experience for the caregiver. How can we make filling out a W-9 or other documentation easier?” he says. “If you can make it simple, help them see all the steps involved, and allow them to do it in a frictionless way, that’s key.”

Training and documentation can go a long way to meet new hires where they are, Gupta says.

“For a lot of care staff, English is not their first language. Making sure the software they use is in the language of their choice removes one potential difficulty right from the start,” he says.

Widespread improvements

There’s a better way to leverage technology to solve these administrative challenges, Gupta explains.

“People are using these point solutions: a solution for scheduling, one for HR, one for time management, and they end up buying a solution to solve a problem instead of finding a purpose-built platform from people who understand the industry,” he says. “They end up with all of these separate apps to sign onto, all of which would need to be decommissioned if someone leaves the organization. They also have to deal with duplication of information across these solutions. Providers do better with an all-in-one tailor-made platform that understands your regulations, reimbursements, compliance needs.”

At the end of the day, Gupta says, what is needed isn’t just a solution, but an ally.

“You want a workforce management software suite to come in with partnership mindset and be more than just a vendor,” he says. “You need an ally who is deeply specialized in your unique needs for application tracking, onboarding, compliance, risk, more.”

Tailor-made means industry expertise and a true understanding of a provider’s unique needs.

“Back when I was on the EHR side, I met a CFO and asked why they were with one particular vendor and he said it was because their software allowed him to sleep at night. Even if a clinician wanted to go out of compliance, the software wouldn’t let them,” says Gupta.

Better care for caregivers

In the end, the caregivers are at the heart of every equation in this space, Gupta says.

“They are at the center of this mission to take care of our senior population, and if we don’t take care of the caregivers, we can’t take care of the seniors,” he says. “If you want to help the aging experience, you have to take care of the caregivers.”

There’s a uniqueness to caring for the senior population, Gupta says.

“I was just reading how the oldest Millennial is 40 and just think about how quickly these generations are moving and what their expectations will be. Our current set of seniors have already had 10-15 years of great technology. Gone are the days of just bingo. They’re more tech-savvy,” says Gupta. “The expectations of seniors are changing, and the ability of caregivers to use technology thoughtfully will be paramount. The true winners will be those who use technology to drive a great aging experience, and caregivers are at the heart of that is task.”

Matt Phillion is a freelance writer covering healthcare, cybersecurity, and more. He can be reached at matthew.phillion@gmail.com.