Home healthcare organizations are facing unprecedented challenges in today’s healthcare climate: as the U.S. home care market is poised to grow exponentially in the coming years to support the growing senior population, the industry is grappling with overwhelming operating constraints, a shortage of home health clinicians and ever changing regulatory requirements like the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM).

That means that now, more than ever, home health clinicians require the latest technology to help them provide effective, quality home care – from streamlining care delivery to maintaining strong communication with patients and their families to ensuring maximum safety for all. Fortunately, there are proven technology solutions such as mobile printing that pair seamlessly with home care software enabling on-the-go visiting nurses or other mobile clinicians to efficiently and effectively provide patient-centric home care. Mobile printing enables caregivers to print full-page documents on-demand in the home. This includes a wide array of important documents including plans of care, medication and drug interaction guidelines and caregiver instructions.

Not only does on-demand printing in the home support a better patient experience, it can also improve the experience for care providers, including significant time savings – and that efficiency can have a major impact on a home care agency’s operating margin. The question is, in today’s challenging times, when budgets are strained, how can home healthcare agencies obtain the mobile technology they need to ensure their clinicians can serve patients effectively without undue financial pressure?

A flexible investment option for home healthcare

Purchasing and deploying the latest technology can pose a significant challenge, especially for home healthcare organizations who are both budget and resource strapped. For these reasons, a procurement option like Hardware-as-a-Service (HaaS) offers a flexible, cost-effective solution.

With HaaS, technology acquisition costs are shifted to operational expense (OpEx) rather than capital expenses (CapEx), making the acquisition of the most advanced technology less of a financial strain. This translates to a predictable monthly payment for hardware, accessories and even warranties instead of a large, single investment up front. HaaS opens the door to deploying advanced, scalable technology solutions with industry-leading equipment resulting in improved clinician productivity from top hardware performance along with reduced downtime that may arise from supplies that are out of stock.

HaaS Q&A: How Home Health Agencies Can Adapt & Thrive >>

Solutions made for in-home clinician workflow

Home healthcare agencies are well aware of the fact that accurate documentation leads to enhanced communication both for the in-home recipient and supports collaboration for the entire care team. For clinicians who are printing documents as leave-behinds at the site of care, up-to-date technology offers a streamlined way to communicate information to their colleagues about the patient’s care. Additionally, for a care base largely made up of elderly patients and family or friends supporting their care who must navigate constantly changing care plans and medication lists, or care instructions, mobile printing can be critical.

Brother’s Shift & Print Subscription Service can include all Brother accessories such as chargers, cables, and cases, and our comprehensive limited warranties covering device replacement or repair.¹

Technology that supports today’s requirements, and tomorrow’s innovation

Home healthcare operational leaders are realizing HaaS offers a flexible option to acquire the necessary solutions to replace outdated legacy equipment and keep in-home clinicians happy and effective. From a business perspective, it offers tangible benefits too. For other organizations, HaaS has been instrumental in reducing internal IT strain and maximizing operations, while allowing them to innovate their hardware and software – a recent study found that 40% of IT decision-makers credit HaaS with lowering total cost of ownership and reducing expenses, while 43% cite easier setup and maintenance as well as reducing the amount of obsolete technology in the workplace, which can be a critical security issue.²

Now more than ever, home healthcare organizations must evolve to meet the trifecta of regulation requirements, market demands and patient expectations. HaaS is a proven technology procurement model that enables the strategic investment in the infrastructure that can support enhanced care delivery, along with clinician and patient satisfaction.

*Shift & Print Subscription Service is subject to credit approval