Welcome to this month's GenSuccess. This month we're exploring telephony in depth: it's far more than simple timekeeping.

Think monitoring caregiver activity, responding before a crisis occurs, tracking receipt of messages, and quantifying results with reports. Read on to learn how Generations Telephony & Wellness can help your business.

Not using telephony? We're happy to give you a demo and discuss further. Contact Amanda Conroy via email or ask us questions via Live Chat.

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This month we're looking at best practices for working with telephony by exploring specific scenarios and how to best handle those.

 

My Caregiver Logged In, But Telephony Said A Schedule Does Not Exist.  

You may run into this scenario if you fill a shift at the last minute. But with the new ability to add schedules from Caregiver Search, this type of situation should be minimized. Here's what happens with telephony:  

• Because the schedule did not exist when the caregiver logged in and out, the call cannot be matched to a shift and will not appear on the Telephony Schedules screen. The best practice is to review the Telephony Calls screen: all the data you need to research the shift is there.
• Filter to show all "Unmatched" calls. Then look through until you find the correct client/caregiver combination. Alternately, you could scan the "Matched" column for a "0" value; those are shifts that did not match.
• Having verified that login and logout occurred with the proper client and caregiver combination, you can add the shift in the scheduling area of Generations and confirm the shift.

When a caregiver calls off at the last minute, you've got to scramble to find a replacement. The way telephony behaves depends on one thing: were you able to change the shift before the new caregiver tries to log in?

• The best practice is to edit the shift before the replacement caregiver logs in. If you're not in the office, use the Generations app to make those changes.
• If that's not possible, the log in and log out will not match to a schedule. Use the Telephony Call Screen as described above to verify that the new caregiver logs in and out appropriately.

What's The BP for Tardy's?
If you're using Generations Telephony & Wellness, be sure that you have the option checked to automatically record a note in the caregiver's file when they are tardy. The option is found in Company Settings > Telephony > Advanced Configuration. We recommend the tardy is set to ten minutes after the start of the shift.

• For caregiver performance reviews, run the Caregiver Notes report. Filter to the "tardy" note type to see all instances of tardy for the review period.

There's always one caregiver who has a hard time remembering the importance of logging in and out. Or, perhaps the caregiver was so engaged with the client that logging in and out slipped their mind. Regardless of the situation, you can still verify that the shift happened.

• As long as the missed visit alert is turned on for a shift, you will receive an alert via email and/or text that the caregiver did not login. You'll also see an alert on the Telephony Schedules screen.
• Contact the caregiver or client to verify the caregiver has arrived. 
• Once you've determined that the shift did happen, manually confirm that shift with the appropriate times.
• If necessary, review unconfirmed shifts in the Telephony Schedules screen. Select the date range and filter to see unconfirmed shifts.

Now it's your turn. What are your best practices for working with telephony?  

• What reports do you use?
• Do you have in-house procedures specifically for telephony?

If there are best practices you'd like us to cover, please let us know at gensuccess@idb-sys.com.  

This month, we're offering two webinars covering (more or less) the same information - and they're both all about Generations Telephony & Wellness: 

1. Basic Features
2. Set Up
3. Daily Operations
4. Messaging, Wellness & Tasks, Notifications
5. Reporting

There will be plenty of time for questions, and we'll have one of our in-house experts ready to answer your questions. Click to register for the webinar of your choice.

Generations Telephony is an electronic timekeeping system used to verify when the employee arrives and departs from the client home; Generations Telephony also automatically updates and confirms the Schedules in Generations. Here's a (relatively) quick breakdown of telephony features and benefits. 

 

Monitoring

• Know when the caregiver logs in and out.
• Wellness and tasks gives you the potential to reduce readmission by accurately reporting what was done and how the client is doing.
• Notify clients and family members when a caregiver arrives and departs from the client's location via email or text (optional.)

Responding

• Alerts as or before issues arise - so you can take action before the situation gets out of control.
• The ability to know what tasks were performed - and which tasks were not performed - by a caregiver
• For example, by monitoring client wellness, you have the ability to document that the client's blood pressure has been steadily rising over the last week.

Messaging

• Send messages individually (one caregiver/one message) or mass (fifty caregivers, three messages.)
• Caregivers hear the messages when they call into telephony, or read the messages on the app.
• Generations records what date and time they receive the message(s.)

Reporting  

• Caregiver Assignment Report: Get information about the client to the caregiver quickly and include assigned tasks.
• Completed Tasks By Date: Great to share with client's family member or payor source as a proof of task completion.
• Wellness: Filter by client, location, date range, and more.
• Plan of Care Tasks - (7 Day) report: Can be run blank or completed for up to four weeks; completed report shows tasks performed.

Not using telephony? We're happy to give you a demo and discuss further. Contact Amanda Conroy via email or ask us questions via Live Chat. 

This month we're answering questions about live in shifts, check in calls, GPS, time zones, messaging, and continuous shift.

1. If the main office is located in the US Pacific Time Zone and that's where the majority of the scheduling occurs. Schedules are established in the time zone of the client. So if the client Joe Schmoe lives in Madison, Wisconsin (Central Time,) that's the time you use when scheduling - not Pacific.
2. If all caregivers -regardless of time zone- use the same telephony phone number. For example, when caregiver Suzy Smith calls from client Joe Schmoe's house in Madison, Generations Telephony determines that Joe Schmoe is in Central Time Zone, and adjusts the time reported to that time zone.

Question: How does telephony work for live-ins?

Answer: If you do true live-in shifts where the caregiver stays at the client's home for multiple days, the best practice is to have the caregiver do check-in calls.  

• At the start of the shift, the caregiver logs in.
• Each subsequent day, the caregiver selects option three: check-in call. This call can occur anytime during the day, and is only required once per day. Think of the check-in call as a way for the caregiver to say, "I'm still here."
• On the final day, the caregiver logs out.

Question: I'm confused. Why wouldn't a live-in caregiver use continuous shift?

Answer: Continuous shift isn't designed for live-in shifts. Instead, it's perfect when:

• Your client receives multiple services from the same caregiver.
• Those services need different bill rates or a different payor source.
• And the shifts occur back-to-back like this:
• 8a-10a personal care paid by Veteran's Administration
• 10a-12p homecare paid for by the family.

With continuous shift enabled, Generations Telephony recognizes the shifts as a continuous period of service between one client and one caregiver. The caregiver logs in at the beginning (8a) and logs out at the end (12p.) Both shifts are confirmed simultaneously. Tasks and wellness for both shifts are managed at login and logout.
 

Question: How does the app know where a caregiver is? 

Answer: The app utilizes the location services on your device, which uses GPS (Global Positioning System.) There are three ways that a location can be determined on a smart phone or tablet:

1. using triangulation and cell phone towers,
2. using Wi-Fi, or
3. using a reading from a satellite (GPS.)

The most reliably accurate location comes from a satellite; therefore, the Generations App only retrieves GPS coordinates from satellites. Because of this, we strongly recommend that anyone logging in via the app have a clear line of sight to the sky: they should either be near a window or outside of the building.

 

Have some questions you'd like us to address in the next issue? Let us know at gensuccess@idb-sys.com.