HCHB Review

Since day one from the trainers to customer support, it has been a positive experience. We feel supported when needed and really appreciate the customer support re structure that is going on at this time.

Pros

HCHB is great in that it puts the workflow to the forefront so it must be addressed. No missing work items or trying to remember if you did a process. It reminds you or actually has hard stops to keep you from moving foward without the required information.

Cons

some of the stops require HCHB to intervene. While I at times understand I think it should be a the agencies discretion. My number one con is the when a patient changes insurance and a new episode must be opened and retro episode information added.

Top billing software but has some downfalls....

Pros

They have been great to add programs to the software so that we can keep everything in house. We have multiple lines of business and in that respect they are very accommodating. We have been with them for years so most of our staff is familiar with the software and how it operates.

Cons

It can become super costly. They charge enormous amounts for each add-on you purchase. Also, customer service has always and still is very slow to respond at times. There are times we will wait 2-3 days for a response to what seems like a simple fix. Also not fond of a lot of the updates they do (which is often) They seem to change the look and feel of the site far too much.

The Ripple Effect

In my opinion, as the biller I saw that this software caused this company to lose a lot of money.

Pros

Having used a handful of different software programs in the healthcare field I found using this particular one taught me to appreciate the others in a big way.

Cons

This software is marketed as a “workflow” driven program that is supposed to seamlessly keep users on top of tasks to insure the ball keeps rolling without interruption. The workflow is from referral stage (accepted or not), to insurance verification (which should be done first), to scheduling start of care visit and so on. Each step has several “workflow” sections that need to be cleared. These workflow items can only be cleared from the “workflow” section of the software. In other words, it cannot be cleared simply by doing the task from other sections of the software or the patients chart.
Insurance authorizations are tricky. A SOC visit cannot be scheduled without an authorization being entered, even for Medicare payors which do not require an auth. Authorizations require a "bypass" to be entered first which is only a partial auth allowing a scheduler to only plot a few visits, explained to employees that it forces auths be requested and followed up on so that the remaining visits can be scheduled. However this wasn't the case, as a turnover in employees occurred repeatedly, orders weren’t being approved in a timely manner so new employees were told to add to these bypasses to be able to schedule further visits. If bypass extensions weren’t entered, visits were not scheduled in a timely manner and ordered frequency was not honored and in the end MANY missed visits had to be entered, which happened frequently. Auth requests fell behind as well because orders hadn’t been approved and not all Ins companies allow back dating of auth requests which costed this company dearly. Also the auth workflow has many sections, Enter initial auth bypass, Request initial auth, Follow up on auth request, Enter auth upon approval, all for each patient and each auth..so much reworking on the same subject, a huge time waster and messy. Each workflow item requires coordination note to be entered (more to weed through when searching notes).
To explain untimely verbal order approval, they understandably need to be approved as do many other things, usually by the Director of Nursing. As the DON rules many facets of this kind of business, her “workflow” is overwhelming, as is every assigned workflow item with this program, hence the turnover. Every employee has an overwhelming workflow that drives them to seek other employment. I saw 3 DON’s come and go in the few short months I was with this company. This in my opinion is what causes a ripple effect. If only one user in this “workflow” process cannot keep up it will and does cause every step thereafter to be off because the task does not move to the next step until the one before is complete.
A couple of other things outside the workflow that cause issues: There is no visit management for looking into if visits were completed or not in the patient chart. Users have to exit the chart to go to the scheduling console that is many clicks and searches to get to. Actual visit notes are found in coordination notes that are mixed with all certification periods for that patient and there is no indication of what kind of visit it is, a follow up or oasis etc. This information is only available in the scheduler. All documents that are scanned into a patients chart are mixed as well with all cert periods so in turn users spend too much time weeding out, another big time waster. Also only one user can be in a patient chart at a time, very odd.

Not a fan of this inflexible system

This Android based system forces users into the most check-box driven system in the Universe. The pro is that the system makes you jump through the hoops. The con is that the system makes you jump through hoops.

Pros

The system forces you to write your notes every day. Once you get used to it, its nice to stay in the rhythm of documenting when you are with your patients or immediately after. You can't really get behind if you are doing it right. This system keeps clinicians very honest about the actual timing of patient visits. This is another system that CTO's and CFO's geek out about.

Cons

The goals and interventions are rigid and difficult to incorporate into the actual functional activities. If you are in the middle of a visit and need to change the visit type, you have to depend on the office to schedule things for you. When that happens, you often have to document after the fact and the system makes it very difficult to record the time of the actual treatment.

Makes Good Documentation Easier - to a Point

Pros

Homecare Homebase (HCHB) attempts to make documentation easier for all disciplines involved in home patient care. HCHB provides preformulated interventions and goals for every discipline for each type of visit the organization utilizes and they can also use freestyle narrative notes.

HCHB also tracks the staffs miles per the agencies model, such as deducting 20 miles or taking away the mileage from the first and last visit. The software can also be used to track a staff members time, such as administrative, meeting, patient delivery, et cetera.

Cons

HCHB was admittedly a bit challenging to learn, even though the staff from the program stayed with my company for a while.

Great Product!

Our company uses this software all day, every day. We could not provide the high level of care we do without a robust software like HCHB.

Pros

Great all in one software for a growing hospice company. Without this I don't know how we could function as a company, this is great!

Cons

They roll out quite a few updates the system can go down from time to time but if you can be patient and plan for it you'll be fine.

Powerful home care and hospice automation software

Pros

HCHB has a multitude of integrations for supporting our nurses including integrations with patient data, physician office integration, payroll, and others. The scanning features have drastically reduced the administrative hours nurses spend allowing them more quality time with patients.

Cons

HCHB is growing fast and has some of the biggest home health and hospice agencies. Sometimes they seem over stretched, but it usually happens in phases. They are constantly getting better and more reliable with compliance needs.

Honest review of homecarehomebase by nurse who uses every day

Absolutely, unequivocally a resounding NO WAY

Pros

Some realtime info is available however admissions and recertifications not available as realtime until fully reviewed by coders
Demographics info available immediately
The pros for office staff and billing purposes are readily apparent and this is the major advantage

Cons

This little device sorry,rephrase, this miniature device is totally inadequate to be working with all day and all night
Mark my words, you will be working on this little monster for the entire day &night whenever you see patients. It is slowwww, tedious to use due to miniature size and it is laborious as you need to address hundreds of screens to move through this program. It is difficult to retrieve information as it requires backtracking again through screen after screen. The type is extremely small and difficult to use continually all day & night and this is with largest type available. It has made my job easily 12 hrs a day and since I'm salaried no overtime. Basically, my job is nurse during day and data entry every single night . There is lag time with every entry and with every screen change causing delay in my data entry job. Trust me, the nursing staff will be very unhappy with this program. Mgt not sympathetic as they shrug and say "That's the way it is".

Very specific documentation needs

Pros

Amazing ability to look up patients, and map your day. I miss this feature the most when working with my new software. Looking up patients at a touch of a button and not searching really made my evenings and mornings trying to plan for my day and caseload very easy.

Cons

Did not have a lot of ability to choose what you needed in certain sections. Sometimes would have to click an answer that didn't really fit, and then would later have to type a narrative to explain

Many ways to get the job done.

Pros

On a desktop, the software is easy to use and has many different ways of getting the same task done.

Cons

If on a tablet, it gets hung up and is impossible to resolve until log on with desktop and un-hang yourself.

You've got options.

You've got options. Explore them before settling on Homecare Homebase.

Pros

I used this software daily for a number of months and, after being with another company offering a superior Home Health Care software, I understand why my colleagues were all frustrated with it. The only pro about this software is the customer service staff, who did what they could to help me when I needed them.

Cons

The interface is extremely outdated and not remotely user-friendly. I felt as though I was using a program made in the late 90's. And the so-called Phone App, which was was still relatively new when I was utilizing the software, crashed often and was never easy to use when it worked. Customer service, however, was fantastic in my experience. They seemed to understand the frustrations of their software and tried their best to ease the burden. I hope to never use this software again.

Benefits of Homecare Homebase

easily used on tablets

Pros

Intuitive, less time consuming, ability to compare answers to OASIS questions prior to finalizing discharge from services. Up to date with regulatory changes

Cons

agency has to pay for better utilization of various tools, otherwise can't think of anything negative.

Data Drive System

Pros

Good product to help track visit time, documentation and travel. End user able to document at home where care provided.

Cons

Dependent on back office staff to "push" workflow, so clinicians have access to patient information and visit documentation

Makes My Day Easy

Pros

Homecare Homebase makes patient management a breeze. I am able to see every part of a patients chart, add notes and orders as well as schedule future visits. Simple check box menus lets me customize my visit notes with pre-written segments.

Cons

The only drawback is that I am unable to see old certification periods on patients. In order to do that I have to go into the office and have someone with access pull it up for me.

Hospice amy

It has been very helpful keeping g my visits and orders scheduled and timely. I can find all patient information quickly from other client providers within our hospice team.

Pros

I can quickly and easily find clients demographic information, medical information, orders, plans, billing, etc

Cons

There are many options and paths you can take so you have to take some time familiarizing yourself with the product in order to navigate quickly.

Great Homehealth software

Pros

Homecare Homebase allows all of your field clinicians a digital process to enter time worked and patient notes instead of shuffling paperwork back and forth to the office.

Cons

Training for this software could be streamlined more.

Not Clinically Practical or User Friendly

It does not produce a clinically functional note to communicate what is actually happening with the patient. It takes a lot of effort to get into and out of notes. You cannot have more than one window open at a time, so you cannot review patient information while trying to write clinical or CTI notes. It goes down often.

Pros

Web based

Cons

Information not easily accessible or clinically practical
System goes down and they are not responsive

NOT suitable for hospice inpatient units

You sold management a bill of goods. Pretty sure they paid too much for this terrible system.

Pros

Nothing.totally inappropriate fo. TIME consuming. So much repetition for so little information. Set up for intermittant visits. Too much back office requirement that impedes flow of information. Does not interact with hospice pharmacy so all meds have to put in twice. Calls for answers to questions before you can move on where there is no appropriate answer available

Cons

Soc is too time consuming. Hard to retrieve information that is useable for continued pt care.too complicated but not flexible. This has been a nightmare to use.

Home Health RN

They really need to higher RN's to help them improve the Language utilized, cut down double charting within the system, improve wound care charting which is completely and utterly useless as it stands. SOC with Allscripts 1hr... SOC with HCHB 3hrs minimum.

Pros

Medications are easy to enter.There is an available drug reference guide within the library. Integrated map for client locations.

Cons

Too many to count! Charting a SOC takes about two hours longer to chart than all scripts. scheduling issues related to case management and crossing over of care. Supply ordering is a nightmare. Honestly, I could go on and on.

cumbersome, time-consuming,inefficient

Look elsewhere for a hospice EMR

Pros

There is some ease of use for practitioners on tablets. I cannot think of much else that I find as positive

Cons

Hours upon hours wasted in documenting, learning to use, and attempts to correct issues
This system is not tailored to hospice (maybe designed for homecare?)
POC are close to impossible to work with- most practitioners just fill in anything just to do it. You can expect to be cited for your POC if you attempt to use this system. Very difficult , if not impossible to actually use the POC as a tool for caring for patients. Noone at HCHB is able to explain how to use the POC - they will give lip service to ste-by-step instructions,that do not work.
HCHB training was very poor- many staff at hchb don't seem to understand their own system.