The 21^st Century Cures Act mandates that all states implement EVV for all Medicaid personal care services and home health services that require an in-home visit by a provider. All impacted agencies must implement an EVV system by January 1^st, 2020.

With the date quickly approaching, it’s important to know when you should begin your EVV implementation process.  We look at some benefits of EVV and what you need to know during the implementation process. If you have any further questions, please contact DCI today. We can help you get started.

When to Start Your EVV Implementation: Factors You Should Consider

Vetting and Choosing the Right Solution

This can include several steps, such as:

• Defining your requirements
• Looking at different companies
• Requesting demos
• Gathering stakeholder feedback

This process can take several weeks.

Implementation

Providers and agencies in many states are working towards compliance with the 21st Century Cures Act. You will be competing with other EVV vendors to ensure that you have completed implementation by January 1^st, 2020. This also includes adhering to any state specific requirements for EVV.

An implementation may not start immediately after you sign a contract. The average time it takes for a company to implement an EVV system is two to three months. Timelines vary based on how much time your company can commit to implementation.

Compliance

The process of adhering to state compliance regulations can also take time. Learning a new system and on-boarding all employees can take several months. Once the system is live, it may take several weeks before all users consistently comply with all processes and workflows.

This will be key to the success of your agency and ensuring that all data can be collected as accurately as possible. 

What Are the Benefits of Implementing EVV Now Instead of Later?

With any new system and on-boarding phase, it’s important to remember that the timeline for implementation is going to be largely dependent on your organization’s ability to work with the vendor to get the system setup up properly.

But once that’s in place, the next phase of the timeline is education and training for agency employees. The benefits of implementing now cover not only a more efficient process internally, but also the compliance guarantee, and customer safety and satisfaction:

• Reducing Caregiver Fraud
  • EVV technology allows agencies to monitor employees more closely to ensure that they provide better services with more accurate billing. They also ensure that clients adhere to compliance standards. EVV verifies that caregivers bill their clients for actual visits. Clients can also report caregiver fraud, neglect, or abuse.

• Increased Payroll and Billing Accuracy
  • Manual methods for billing and payroll do not always provide accurate data. They limit the scope of internal processes making it more difficult to ensure accuracy across the board with all employees. With an automated centralized invoicing system, you can manage employee payroll and billing. EVV makes it easier to calculate payroll hours per caregiver and streamline all processes, thus, reducing the possibility of gathering inaccurate data.

• Increased Customer Satisfaction
  • One of the primary roles of EVV technology is to improve customer experience and satisfaction. When customers are happy, they are likely to be more loyal and refer their friends or family to the service. EVV systems can help providers in the following ways:
    • Reduce missed visits, tardiness, or services that end too short or last too long
    • Allow customers or family members to easily provide feedback immediate feedback
    • Improve the quality of service by allowing employees to document and report their activities or outcomes more efficiently
    • Ensure that caregivers adhere to compliance regulations by meeting client needs.

Do You Have More Questions? Contact Us Today for a Free Demo

Direct Care Innovations (DCI) can help your company create a workable business management platform that allows caregivers to provide the highest level of service to your clients. To find out more about our EVV solutions, request a demo today.