To improve person-centric services in a company, one way to understand clients or consumers is by diving deep into their data. Data is a critical element of developing client affinity. But in research done on KPMG,
Listen, Learn and Lead: Human and Social Services Outlook 2018, 50 per cent of CEOs on human service organisations say they are not using data effectively and efficiently.
However, aged care facilities have access to a substantial amount of rich information about the people they care for within their facilities and residential care. In a world where data keeps on innovating businesses, there is a significant potential data holds for the sector.
According to Professor Johanna Westbrook, Director of
Australian Institute of Health Innovation,
“The aged care sector needs a significant overhaul, based on their research, in terms of what can we do now to improve care, recognising the demands and limitations of the system… And the focus should be on better using existing data and particularly leveraging the power of information technology in partnership with aged care providers and consumers.”
From January to March 2020, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission conducted 147 residential aged care site audits. After personal and clinical care, the second most frequent requirement of the unmet standards was Standard 8, “Effective Governance Systems”. This specifically relates to the governance systems supporting information management, continuous improvement, financial and workforce governance, regulatory compliance and feedback and complaints. Along with this, the second-highest unmet requirement in 2020 was quality home services.
As part of the Royal Commission
report and federal budget commitment, the Government promised to give the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) about $25 million to undertake an additional 1,500 safety audits in residential care facilities for 2021-2022. So, data management system assessment will be more frequent for your organisations and other safety audits necessary to maintain quality care.
Read More:
The Biggest Challenges in Australia’s Aged Care System
But how can data help you in improving your care services?
Many aged care facilities are rich in data, but only a few have access to interpret it and help them with business decision-making to expand their facilities.
If data is used effectively in the sector, it can enhance services and client care experience. These can include:
- A better understanding of the needs and preferences of people needing care
- The ability to develop and innovate with technology that meets the needs of your clients
- Empowering support workers to understand the technology, improve care and boost employee morale
These are just some of the significant opportunities that the aged care sector can take advantage of by using the available data in their organisations to drive innovation, experience, and boost efficiency.
Here, we’ll be sharing some ways to assist you in ensuring your teams uses your clients’ data effectively and continuously enhance your client experience. Data collection practices and dashboards thrive in innovation and increase the quality of care delivered in your organisation.
- Manage your data by centralising client records
- Ensuring your data is valuable
- Consistently analyse data to get to know your clients, their needs and preferences
Manage Your Data By Centralising Client Records
Aged Care facilities are used to managing their information with manual spreadsheets, paper documents and forms. This process is very prone to errors and is time-consuming for the staff. And makes it harder for teams to take note of important insights to improve their business.
By digitising your facility’s
data management system, you give your staff more time to deliver care and centralise client records that can be accessed using a computer or a mobile application.
With a centralised data management system, you and your teams can view and update client profiles, fundings, and services on one page. See clients interests, social groups, and complex care reports from different support workers to make sure you have the whole picture when making decisions and planning.
Ensuring your data is valuable
For your data to be valuable to your organisation’s growth and further boost your client care experience, you must ensure its accuracy and significance.
Data accuracy refers to error-free documents that can be used as a reliable source of information. When data management relies on manual entry by different people from different places (in the instance that you have several branches), it’s hard to collect and update documents. With several versions and from various entry points, the possibility of errors is high, especially if there’s no way to validate.
Imagine having to send around several versions of spreadsheets from different members of your team, thinking who has the latest updated file?
When your teams store data in a centralised data management system, it keeps the same information, maintains consistency, avoids human error, and has a clear record of any revisions or updates.
Relevance is another ambiguous characteristic of data; what are the essential details you need to note to help you provide better services to your clients? What care assistance has been increasing in demand? Because there’s so much data available from your clients these days, it’s essential to filter out the necessary details to improve your client care experience and overall operations.
Consistently analyse data to get to know your clients more
You’ve got everything on digital; your organisation has
one entry point system of all your data, too. But has it helped you to make better business decisions to boost your workflow and services already?
Data analysis can help organisations better understand their clients, evaluate their facility and their services. Ultimately, businesses can use data analytics to expand their facilities. By analysing the data you collect, your teams can point out the areas that need improvement, such as the capacity of retirement villages, upgrading management systems, and increasing demand for support workers.
Finding the
right tools that will help you better read and interpret your data is a good investment when it comes to data analysis, such as dashboard tools that are easily accessed by your teams. Ideally, it should be user-friendly enough that your team can jump in and understand the data in front of them and how it can be used to your advantage without the need for a walk-through.
Another way to use your analysed data is to set your key performance indicators (KPIs) to help your business move forward. When you indicate your KPIs, your data metrics will demonstrate measurable results if your targets were met.
KPIs can address key areas that you want to focus on and improve, such as increased time delivering care, client satisfaction, employee retention, reporting, and billing. These can cover all aspects of your business operations to help you grow.
Keeping up with the latest technology trends to boost your business operations is a growing requirement in today’s world, and seeing the significant role of data in your business and how you can turn it into a valuable asset in your business. This can give everyone a better understanding of clients, allowing facilities to adapt services that meet their needs, improving the effectiveness and efficiency.
If you’re looking for the perfect data management system for your teams and you’re wondering if CareVision can support your business, connect with us at 1300 324 070 to book a free demo, or visit
https://www.carevision.com for more information.
