hether you work in long-term care, assisted living, or home care, it's safe to say that your need for quality, efficient software has never been as great. The task of finding a vendor and software that meet your needs may seem overwhelming. This article attempts to lessen the burden of finding a match between your facility and software that meets your unique needs. Though not exhaustive, the following list provides an overview of what's out there--whether you're seeking a complete clinical and financial package or software specific to your infection control or dietary needs.
Accu-Med Services, Inc., An Omnicare Company
About the company. Omnicare is a provider of professional pharmacy and related consulting services for long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes, retirement centers, and other institutional healthcare facilities. Accu-Med, a division of Omnicare, has been in existence since 1984. It is the largest clinical and financial software provider in the industry with approximately 5,000 facilities nationwide.
About the product. Accu-Care has clinical applications for preadmission screening and costing, admission, medical records, physician orders, weight tracking, Minimum Data Set (MDS) and user-defined assessments, care plans, progress notes, and quality assurance/quality indicators.
Add-On offers financial modules for accounts receivable, accounts payable, general ledger, payroll, and resident trust.
PRO-Tracking is a performance measurement/quality indicator system.
Contact information. Write to Omnicare at 300 Technecenter Drive, Suite A, Milford, OH 45150; phone toll free (800) 777-9141; or visit
www.accu-med.com.
Achieve Healthcare Technologies
About the company. Established in 1973, Achieve Healthcare Technologies is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the largest privately held provider of information system products and services to the extended care industry.
Achieve is an affiliate of the Health Quest Group. In July 1995, Health Quest acquired Chesapeake Healthcare Systems. A year later, Automated Research Systems' Resident Care System, a Windows®-based clinical system, was acquired. In September 1996, Achieve merged with Genesis Business Systems. In September 2000, Achieve Healthcare Technologies and KPMG joined forces to launch the Business Product Outsourcing (BPO) service.
About the product. PathLinks is a user-defined, process-oriented system that measures and manages the cost and care information across the care continuum. Most applications can run independently or can fully integrate clinical and financial information. Applications include accounts payable, accounts receivable, admission and census, care plans, case mix coach, claims management, clinical documentation, financial and clinical pathways, payroll, general ledger, MDS, physician's orders, provider intelligence, resident banking, and staff scheduling.
DataCare is an integrated clinical and financial software application. Modules include accounts receivable and payable, resident trust, general ledger, payroll, bank reconciliation, direct deposit, clinicals, and laser forms. DataCare interfaces with Kronos and Keller Time Card applications as well as Orbits and Triad Bar Code applications.
GENECARE is an integrated clinical and financial suite of products serving the long-term care industry. Available applications include admissions and census, accounts receivable and payable, Medicare and Medicaid claims submission, resident trust, payroll, general ledger, MDS, care planning, physicians orders, staff scheduling, safety analysis, inventory, and purchase orders.
Contact information. Contact Achieve Healthcare Technologies at 7690 Golden Triangle Drive, Eden Prairie, MN 55344; phone toll free (800) 869-1322; or visit www.achievehealthcare.com.
Advanced Answers on Demand, Inc.
About the company. Owned and directed by Magic Software Enterprises, Ltd., Advanced Answers on Demand produces integrated software specifically for the long-term care community. The company's software has over 40 modules, which meet the needs of continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs), assisted living facilities (ALFs), nursing homes, home health agencies, independent living facilities, and retirement homes. Advanced Answers on Demand currently serves over 500 facilities in the United States.
About the product. Advanced Answers on Demand's system is developed around Magic, a rapid application development tool. The Windows-based system is customizable to the facility's needs. Included in over 40 modules are applications for MDS, accounts payable and receivable, admissions and census, bank reconciliation, billing, clinical, facility management, general ledger, human resources, materials management, payroll, resident/apartment management, resident billing and care services, staff scheduling, and more.
Contact information. Contact Advanced Answers on Demand at 8100 North University Drive, Third Floor, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33321; phone (954) 724-9809; or visit www.advanced-answers.com.
American HealthTech
About the company. American HealthTech provides post-acute care clinical and financial software for 2,400+ clients in the extended care industry. The integrated clinical and financial software is designed for nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), and ALFs and is appropriate for the independent nursing facility or the multifacility chain.
About the product. A fully integrated program offers the following features: clinical--MDS, departmental notes, census tracking, drug database with patient education, ICD-9 library, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) 672 and 802 forms, physician's orders, care plans, and case mix calculation for Medicare and Medicaid; financial--admission analysis, billing, payroll, accounts payable, general ledger, financial management, and corporate office.
Contact information. Write to American HealthTech at PO Box 12310, Jackson, MS 39236; phone toll free (800) 489-2648 (extension 1051); or visit www.healthtech.net.
Health Care Software, Inc. (HCS)
About the company. Established in 1969, Health Care Software, Inc. (HCS) develops fully integrated software for the continuum of care. HCS provides management, clinical, and financial software for long-term care, inpatient service providers, outpatient service providers, and rehabilitation service providers.
About the product. HCS's Interactant system runs on the IBM eServer iSeries platform and has three tiers: management, clinical, and financial. Management applications feature billing, census, scheduling, registration, and contract management for inpatient, outpatient, rehabilitation, and long-term care. Clinical applications are designed for multidisciplinary documentation and workflow management. Features include clinical assessments, care planning, scheduling, order entry, and ancillary department functionality. Financial applications feature general ledger, accounts payable, human resources, and management reporting.
Long-term care specific software features registration, census, MDS, care planning, clinical documentation, Prospective Payment System (PPS) billing, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) compliance, and financial tools. In addition to long-term care facilities, Interactant for long-term care serves assisted living, CCRCs, and independent living. The system can accommodate multiple sites.
Interactant for inpatient providers serves acute, behavioral, and rehabilitation facilities. Inpatient-specific software features clinical and financial applications for census, billing, clinical documentation, registration, and HIPAA compliance and regulation.
Interactant software for outpatient service providers features registration, clinical documentation, scheduling, billing, and contract management and reimbursement. In addition to outpatient clinics, outpatient-specific software serves imaging centers, oncology facilities, rehabilitation centers, vision centers, and behavioral health centers. This software can accommodate multiple facility management and reporting.
Interactant for rehabilitation providers serves rehabilitation facilities, inpatient service providers, and outpatient clinics. Applications include registration, clinical documentation, billing, and scheduling. This software can also accommodate multiple facility management and reporting and contract management and reimbursement.
Contact information. For more information about HCS, write to PO Box 2430, Farmingdale, NJ 07727-2430; phone toll free (800) 524-1038; or visit www.hcsinteractant.com.
HealthMEDX
About the company. Launched in 1983, Management Software, Inc. grew into the largest home care information system company in the industry. In September 1996, it was acquired by HBO & Company. HealthMEDX's web-based, integrated clinical and financial software is designed for SNFs, ALFs, independent living, adult day care, CCRCs, and home care.
About the product. WebCARE is a comprehensive program that offers the following features:
Census--preadmission, prescreening analysis, admission/discharge/transfer (ADT), and census reporting
Clinical--facility-defined assessments, physician orders, MDS, care plans, resource utilization group (RUG) classification, clinical reports, and task flow sheets
Financial--charges, payments, and adjustments, billing and accounts receivable, resident trust, financial reports, integration to third-party accounting systems, and electronic commerce.
eWorkflow allows an organization to electronically define census, clinical, and financial workflow processes and rules.
Contact information. HealthMEDX is located at 5100 Towne Centre Drive, Ozark, MO 65721; phone toll free (877) 875-1200; or visit www.healthmedx.com.
Horizon Healthcare Technologies
About the company. Based in St. Louis, Missouri, Horizon Healthcare Technologies provides clinical, financial, and reimbursement software to approximately 800 facilities, including SNFs, CCRCs, ALFs, and transitional care units, throughout 46 states.
About the product. Horizon Healthcare specializes in software and services for clinical, financial, reimbursement, billing, and employee management applications. The Windows-based MasterSeries software suite encompasses ADT, progress notes, physicians orders, care plans, MDS, HCFA, and HIPAA compliance, electronic billing, and Medicare and Medicaid billing. Horizon Healthcare services include integration, implementation, technical, on-site training, regional training, and St. Louis-based training.
CareMaster software is designed for managing resident admissions, care planning, physicians orders, outcomes measurement, MDS and case mix calculations, infection control, and quality standard tools.
AccountMaster is designed to meet the reimbursement needs of the facility. It is a census/case mix billing program. Benefits include clinical-event charge capture and electronic submission and remission of Medicare and Medicaid. Applications cover Medicare, Medicaid, and third-party payer management, charge capture, deposit and receipt capture, and resident trust fund.
BusinessMaster is the financial arm of the series. Features include general ledger, a purchase order system, payables management, fixed assets, budgeting, and a report writer. BusinessMaster also integrates with AccountMaster.
BusinessMaster Employee Management is designed to maintain staff-related business. Applications, such as Human Resources, Payroll, and FRx Report Writer, manage pay and benefit records, prospect information tracking, government mandated reports, tax tables and local tax codes, automatic distribution of salary, pension, and EIC, job descriptions, salary ranges, review forms, and more.
Horizon offers a Small Business Option (SBO) for its CareMaster, AccountMaster, and BusinessMaster systems.
Contact information. For more information about Horizon Healthcare Technologies, write to 12101 Woodcrest Executive Drive, Suite 201, St. Louis, MO 63141; phone toll free (800) 477-5827; or visit www.e-hht.com.
InfoSys
About the company. Based just outside Chicago in Schaumburg, Illinois, InfoSys was founded in 1987. The software is based on the Microsoft technology platform.
About the product. MedSys has practice management applications for physicians, rehabilitation/therapy facilities, and small hospitals. Applications for physicians include demographics, workflow, EMR, prescriptions, managed care, referral management, scheduling, billing and accounts receivable, claims management, adjudication, and scanning. Modules for therapy include intake, work flow, charting, progress notes, 700/701 reports, referral management, scheduling, billing and accounts receivable, claims management, adjudication, and scanning. Applications for small hospitals contain ADT/census, order entry, clinical management, medications, managed care, referral management, scheduling, billing and accounts receivable, claims management, adjudication, and scanning.
HomeSys is post-acute software comprised of long-term care, home healthcare, and hospice configurations. DME/HME applications consist of order entry, physician orders, care plans, delivery/shipping, CMN certification, referral management, inventory, billing and accounts receivable, claims management, adjudication, and scanning. The home care and hospice modules are intake, physician orders, care plans, Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS)/PPS, 485 certification, hospice, scheduling, billing and accounts receivable, claims management, adjudication, and scanning. The long-term care software manages the following: admission, physician orders, care plans, MDS/resident assessment protocols (RAPs)/RUGs, quality indicators, referral management, trust banking, billing and accounts receivable, claims management, adjudication, and scanning.
Contact information. InfoSys may be reached at Suite 350, 1821 Walden Office Square, Schaumburg, IL 60173; phone toll free (888) INFOSYS; or visit www.infosysusa.com.
Keane Care, Inc.
About the company. Keane Care, Inc. is part of the Healthcare Solutions Division of Keane, Inc. It was formed in 2000 when CARE Computer Systems was acquired by Keane, Inc., an information technology firm and provider of healthcare information systems and services. The clinical and financial software is used by SNFs, ALFs, post-acute care, subacute care, nursing homes, retirement homes, CCRCs, and swing bed hospitals throughout the US.
About the product. VistaKEANE is integrated financial and clinical software for post-acute care, SNFs, subacute care, swing bed hospitals, ALFs, and CCRCs. Applications for resident finances include resident account management and resident trust funds. For resident care management, there are modules for ADT, care plans, care tracker, interdisciplinary progress notes, performance measures/quality indicators, physician orders, rehabilitation therapy, resident assessment (MDS, swing bed MDS, and IRF-PAI), resident scheduling, and user-defined assessments. Financial management modules include accounts payable, fixed assets, general ledger and budgeting, materials management, payroll, and staff scheduling.
Contact information. To contact Keane Care, Inc., write to 636 120th Ave. NE, Bellevue, WA 98005; phone toll free (800) 426-2675; or visit www.keanecare.com.
MDI Technologies
About the company. MDI Technologies, founded in 1982, provides software for long-term care facilities. MDI's products are Windows based, and the company is a Microsoft Solution Provider. In 1999, MDI launched the first application service provider (ASP) for the long-term care industry. Included in MDI's national client base are nursing homes, retirement communities, and ALFs.
About the product. MDI's Windows-based application OnLine Advantage features modules for medical records, accounts receivable and payable, general ledger, payroll, marketing, human resources, scheduling, and more. OnLine Advantage features a single data-entry format, which allows users in the facility to enter data in one program and share the data throughout multiple departments in the facility. MDIConnect allows users to manage clinical and accounting data over the Internet.
Contact information. Contact MDI Technologies at 940 West Port Plaza, Suite 100, St. Louis, MO 63146; phone toll free (800) 552-9846; or visit www.mditech.com.
Misys Healthcare Systems
About the company. Misys Healthcare Systems, a member of the Misys Group of Companies, provides software for home health, hospice, and private duty organizations. The system is used by more than 600 home care companies across the US.
About the product. Misys Homecare provides data automation for home health and hospice providers. Misys Homecare features include patient registration, point-of-care documentation, OASIS, staff assignment, daily acuity tracking, billing, OASIS and ORYX benchmarking, and drug database.
Contact information. Misys Healthcare Systems can be reached at 106 Apple Street, Tinton Falls, NJ 07724-2669; phone (732) 936-3000; or visit www.misyshealthcare.com.
PointClickCare.com
About the company. PointClickCare.com, a division of Wescom Solutions Inc., is a Mississauga, Canada-based healthcare software provider. Founded in 1995, Wescom provides long-term care systems, performance measurement, quality improvement systems, and infection prevention and control software. Wescom Solutions currently serves over 1,000 healthcare customers in 40 states, 10 provinces, and internationally. Wescom released PointClickCare.com in 2000.
About the product. PointClickCare.com is a pay-as-you-go Internet subscription service. It is an integrated clinical and financial suite of products serving the long-term care industry. Available applications include ADT, assessments, MDS, care plans, physician orders, progress notes, accounts receivable/billing, trust accounts, and general accounting.
Contact information. PointClickCare.com is located at 6790 Century Ave., Suite 301, Mississauga, Ontario L5N 2V8 Canada; phone toll free (800) 277-5889; or visit www.PointClickCare.com.
Shared Healthcare Systems
About the product. Orcas, software for long-term care, merges clinical, financial, and case management systems. The functions include admissions, MDS assessments, care planning, physician orders, billing, accounts receivable, and resident trust fund maintenance.
Cypress is designed to serve occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech-language pathology, and respiratory therapy. Its features include time management, resource allocation, decision support, outcomes trend analysis, and billing.
Discovery, software for assisted living, integrates marketing and referral management, resident data, billing, and accounts receivable functions.
Contact information. Shared Healthcare Systems is located at 1601 R Avenue, Anacortes, WA 98221; phone toll free (888) 249-3370; or visit www.shs.com.
|
Save the Date
Targeting the Science Within Wounds