From wearable and implantable gadgets to computer-assisted coding systems and interoperable electronic health record systems, technology is disrupting and altering the healthcare sector.
Electronic visit verification, or EVV, has gained immense popularity in the home health sector and offers various advantages to clinical operations. Verifying care provider visits for personal or home health services via an electronic approach is known as EVV. These digital records keep track of the different services rendered, the visit date and time, the service location, and details on the service provider.
Through the use of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets and on-the-go access to the most recent patient records, EVV enables healthcare professionals and caregivers to provide patients with higher-quality care overall.
COVID-19: The Catalyst Sparking Up the Home Care Movement
There is now a chance to reconsider the ‘Care at Home’ concept because of a number of pandemic-related factors. Let’s see how McKinsey has penned down this growth with accurate numbers:
- Telehealth usage in February 2021 was 38 times more than it was prior to the outbreak.
- Although the future of telehealth reimbursement parity is not yet clear, payers and providers have a chance to adapt to changing customer needs.
- According to a survey of consumers, 40% of them anticipate utilizing telehealth in the future.
- Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, 11% of customers used telehealth. Therefore this shows an increase.
A growing number of patients and families may be thinking about their alternatives for post-acute and long-term care as baby boomers, older people, and families deal with the COVID-19 issue’ continued effects. According to a report released in December 2021 by the US Department of Health & Human Services, the proportion of Medicare visits handled through telehealth increased to 52.7 million in 2020 from over 840,000 in 2019. And this scenario is witnessed throughout the globe!
Understanding the EVV Solutions
Advanced EVV tools and e-verification facilities are being used by home care agencies all throughout the United States to support and run profitable home care businesses, maintain compliance, and protect patients and carers from fraud.
The Electronic Visit Verification system keeps track of the tasks completed; the hours worked, the notes made, the precise location, and a lot more details regarding the patient-caregiver contact, including details about the service provider.
EVV is applicable to care and medical services provided at home.
For all Medicaid personal care services and home health services that demand an in-home provider visit, the US government has obligated to implement EVV. All care organizations that provide assistance to patients in their homes will eventually be compelled to use EVV tracking.
What criteria apply to EVV?
The type of service rendered is one of the six verification requirements for EVV.
- Those who are using the service
- Period of service
- Place where services are provided
- Those who are doing the work
- When the service starts and when it stops
- Gains from Implementation
Why is EVV so powerfully effective?
Information about service delivery can be gathered and accessed in many different ways using technology solutions. For home care agencies, a solution’s simplicity, effectiveness, and adaptability enable them to carry out business activities with the highest degree of precision.
The technology built into the systems and mobile devices enables them to function with or without cellular or wireless connectivity, allows patients to confirm delivery by signing, aids in the identification of unauthorized services, offers highly controlled access to client data, read-only features prevent times or costs from being manipulated, and creates flags for service deliveries that don’t meet predetermined criteria.
On a functional level, the home care software solutions integrated EVV functions capture and track data. However, there are certain challenges that come with EVV adoption in healthcare processes and these challenges are-
- Technical glitches
- Lack of resistance to change for healthcare professional
- Time-consuming check/check out process
- Difficulty using technology
- Time-consuming billing process
The Tech-Driven Future: The Magic of RPA
More people can now receive care at home thanks to new technologies powered by RPA. RPA can err out the challenges faced in EVV adoption and make the way for simplified value-added patient care. Devices for remote patient monitoring, for instance, enable healthcare professionals to keep track of patients’ progress and get warnings when something goes wrong.
More than one in five healthcare executives who responded to a poll conducted in April 2021 claimed that their practice provides remote patient monitoring. RPA in healthcare Remote patient monitoring has become more popular as a result of the pandemic.
The growing financial support for the digital health sector is hence justified. $29.1 billion in venture capital was invested in digital health firms in 2021, setting a new high. The factors that will drive home health growth, however, are increasing mobility restrictions, improved outcomes, more cost-effectiveness, and patients’ preference for receiving treatment at home.
Advantages of RPA in EVV Adoption
The following advantages of adopting EVV can be experienced by caregivers and care recipients with the assistance of the appropriate technology solution:
Benefits of Electronic Visit Verification for caregivers.
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Accurate Tracking and Documentation of Care Services
Instead of caregiver agencies taking care of documents related to clock-in/clock-out details, and verifying client/caregiver signature, the RPA bot program can automate this time-intensive process. RPA bot can keep track of the details entered by the caregiver, update the missing shift details, take approval from the client/patient about caregiver agents’ details and update the database autonomously. This way RPA reduces the time and resources involved in handling data tracking and updating the database. Further, it gives employees ample time to focus on the decision-making process.
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Simplify Billing and Payment Processes
Storing bills and payments in the database and initiating further payments requires a constant manual effort that might add up to extra costs for caregiver agencies. Instead of stocking up on bills and payment records, caregiver agencies can ease their load by easily accessing the bills and payment report as soon as the caregiver enters the billing information in the EVV system after the services. In this way, the RPA bot reduces the chance of any healthcare fraud and also decreases the administrative burden for caregiver agencies.
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Improved Communication with Home Care Agency
This is another benefit that compels caregiver agencies to adapt EVV in conjunction with RPA. RPA bot can make the interaction between caregiver agencies and the agent that is giving services. For instance, in case of any technical glitch and missed clock-in or clock-out details, caregiver agencies can alert agents using text or voice messages by using an RPA bot. This enables the caregiver agencies to create better communication with agents while offering home care services and keep track of any fraudulent activity.
Benefits of Electronic Visit Verification Process for Care Recipients
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Increase Transparency and Accountability
Unlike the manual Electronic Visit Verification process, automated EVV offers better accountability and transparency as it offers detailed records of patient care provided at homecare. With detailed records and management, caregivers can better manage and analyze patient care and provide better diagnoses and plan for care recipients, This further enabled them to create better regulatory compliance.
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Smooth Communication
The best patient experience and communication are made possible when caregivers have access to the most recent patient records and information and can update it in real-time, which benefits patient health outcomes. Approximately 66% of all medical errors have been shown to be the result of poor team communication. Additionally, a breakdown in communication between the practitioner and the patient is the primary factor in most malpractice cases.
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Personalise & Flexible Patient Care
RPA in EVV equates to less administrative work, minimized paperwork, and fewer mistakes brought on by poor communication. With this advantage, caregivers will have a better working environment to understand and analyze the diagnosis and offer them personalized experiences as per their need for healthcare services.
The Final Note
While many healthcare organizations have embraced RPA technology, many others have not. Providers who take too long to adopt the most fundamental automation components of healthcare, like EVV, may find themselves lagging behind both financially and operationally in the coming years.
From 2021 through 2031, home healthcare is expected to expand at an astounding rate. US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment in the industry will increase by 21% over the next ten years, adding 711,700 jobs per year on average. This contrasts with the predicted 7% growth in employment across all industries.
The COVID-19 pandemic has served as a catalyst for fundamentally reimagining care at home in order to enhance patient experience and care quality while also potentially generating value for payers, healthcare organizations and physician groups, care-at-home providers, technology firms, and investors. And it’s time for healthcare providers to step up their game with EVV!
The post Peeping Into the Future of Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) for Homecare appeared first on AutomationEdge.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://automationedge.com/blogs/peeping-into-the-future-of-electronic-visit-verification-evv-for-homecare/