Breaking the vicious staff retention / lower census cycle

The long term care staffing crisis rages on, according to a recent survey conducted by Leading Age.  70% of assisted living providers and a disturbing 92% of nursing home providers reported significant or severe workforce shortages – unchanged since June 2022.

The staffing crisis in long term care is having a direct impact on census – and revenue.  Difficulties retaining and attracting staff are causing long term care providers to limit new resident recruitment and in some cases, even closing portions of their facilities.  The top line impact is having a disastrous effect on financial viability.

“We have closed wings/neighborhoods due to staffing to avoid agency usage - both personal care and SNF. Also in Home-Care, we have limited the number of clients we can serve due to insufficient staffing to meet the needs.”

Why are long term care staff leaving?

Burnout and better pay are the two biggest reasons cited for staff departures.  78% of respondents mentioned pay and 73% mentioned burnout as leading causes for staff attrition.

Technology Can Help Alleviate Staff Burnout

Technology can enable self-service and speed information delivery to residents and family members.  Some key technology capabilities:

  1. Make resident information available to family members and caregivers ON DEMAND. Reduce the need for non-value-added phone calls or meeting requests from family members.
  2. Make the EHR the single source of truth. Reduce the amount of data entry required of staff members.
  3. Automate communication from facilities to family members and residents. Instantly share universal messages with all family members and residents.

Enabling residents and families to serve themselves makes it easier for them to answer their questions, reduce the frequency of in-person conversations and improve their overall impression of your facility.

EmpRes found a way to alleviate stress – and cost

Leading long term care provider EmpRes recently conducted a 6-month controlled study comparing labor costs for family communication in 24 facilities.  12 facilities relied on phone calls to communicate outbreaks or other important facility information to family members.  The other 12 used How's Mom to automate communication and progress note creation.

The results were staggering.  How's Mom cut phone calls with family members by 95%, reduced the time per call from 14 minutes to 4 minutes. Thanks to How's Mom, EmpRes saved 55 hours per month per facility in staff time - a financial benefit of nearly $3,000/month/facility.  "That represents time that could be spent providing better care, preventing a fall or a re-hospitalization," noted EmpRes's TK King.  Staff members embraced the technology, too.  In a post-test survey, staff members even said, "If you take this away, I'll pay for it out of my own pocket."  As a result of the test, EmpRes will be rolling out How's Mom to all 60 facilities.

How's Mom Can Help

The How's Mom app and Connections Hub enable organizations to streamline feedback solicitation and communication with residents and family members, with a full suite of tools, including chart views, mass notifications, visit planning, family feedback and more. This convenient software makes family communication a powerful - and easily manageable - tool for improving customer experiences and building census.

Schedule A Demo

Contact us today to see how the How's Mom app and Connections Hub can help your organization reduce your team's non-care workload and reduce operating costs.

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