Heart to Heart Hospice is a renowned private provider of hospice care with a wide presence across Texas, Michigan, and Indiana. Their core mission revolves around delivering compassionate end-of-life care while placing a strong emphasis on the well-being of both patients and clinicians.
### The Challenge
Heart to Heart Hospice faced several significant challenges before they implemented medication management technology. Clinicians found themselves grappling with extensive documentation requirements during patient admissions, especially during the crucial start-of-care visits. This initial visit involved reviewing, reconciling, and entering all medications present in the patient’s home into the electronic health record, a process that could often take up to an hour. These lengthy visits not only increased the burden on clinicians but also detracted from direct patient interaction and contributed to burnout.
Moreover, the lack of a standardized system for medication documentation led to inconsistencies across clinicians, posing a risk of errors and compliance gaps. This administrative overload became a barrier to delivering high-quality, compassionate care, highlighting the need for a scalable solution to streamline documentation, support clinical decision-making, and enhance consistency across their multi-state operation.
### Proposal
To address these challenges, Heart to Heart Hospice decided to leverage the medication kit functionality within their EHR, Homecare Homebase. This functionality enabled them to create and implement standardized medication kits tailored to specific symptoms, conditions, and care needs. These kits would allow clinicians to choose from pre-defined medications within a single workflow, reducing manual data entry, standardizing care, and minimizing documentation errors. The organization aimed to streamline documentation, speed up admissions, and provide clearer medication records for surveyors and pharmacists.
### Meeting the Challenge
The implementation process began with analyzing two years of prescribing data to identify the top 500 most frequently ordered medications. After refining the list, the organization collaborated with pharmacists, clinical leadership, and medical directors to build 32 distinct medication kits covering various categories such as cardiovascular, respiratory, GI, endocrine, and pain management. These kits were designed to include both brand-name and generic options, allowing for clinician flexibility while maintaining consistency.
Following the creation of the kits, clinical supervisors tested them using real patient scenarios, and training was conducted by the clinical leadership team to ensure seamless adoption. The kits were integrated within the EHR workflow and linked to the pharmacy benefit manager, reducing manual entry and errors in the prescription process.
### Results
The implementation of medication kits led to a significant reduction in documentation time during admission visits, improved clinician satisfaction and adoption, and enhanced care planning and surveyor feedback. The average documentation time decreased by 28.5 minutes, clinician adoption rate reached nearly 65%, and surveyors noted improved medication planning and documentation practices.
### Advice for Others
Heart to Heart Hospice advises provider organizations considering medication management technology to invest in thorough planning and stakeholder collaboration, prioritize clinician education, and ensure seamless integration with existing workflows. By taking these steps, organizations can streamline documentation processes, enhance care quality, and improve overall efficiency in delivering patient-centered care.
In conclusion, Heart to Heart Hospice’s success story with medication management technology serves as a testament to the positive impact of leveraging innovative solutions to overcome operational challenges and enhance patient care delivery.
