Editor’s Note: The 2020 winners of the McKnight’s Excellence in Technology Awards are being announced daily through Oct. 6. Skilled Care track winners are being announced here by McKnight’s Long-Term Care News. Senior Living track winners are being announced on the website of sister publication McKnight’s Senior Living.
After taking over a bankrupt senior care center, Caraday Healthcare was able to reduce its reliance on agency staff at Hearthstone Nursing and Rehabilitation with the Kare app.
The Round Rock, TX, facility is the Gold winner in the Keep It Super Simple category in the Skilled Care track of the 2020 McKnight’s Excellence in Technology Awards.
Administrator Trudy Venette used the Kare platform to hire for a range of positions, and posted job descriptions, available shifts and applicable pay rates. The first workers accepted shifts within an hour.
Kare vets the employees and provides accessible background check and licensure information for operators — and the provider can choose the most qualified respondents for open shifts.
“With the Kare platform, I could pick the same people everyday,” Venette said. “And if I liked them, I’d give them a 5 (rating) and they’d get their pay faster. So they really worked hard to get that 5.”
Providers pay an hourly rate to workers and an additional per-hour fee to Kare. Kare then allows operators to hire staff they’ve recruited through the app without charging a headhunting fee.
Venette has been an administrator for 30 years. She told McKnight’s Long-Term Care News that she is not a major tech user but was able to set up Hearthstone’s account and navigate the app with ease. She attributed the use of Kare with helping the community eliminate all agency staff — and save significant money — within 30 days of site takeover.
During the pandemic, Hearthstone has run the state’s largest COVID-19 unit with a 95% success rate. Venette said Kare worked with the community to make sure anyone it hired for shifts were only working there. Kare also provided immediate access to staff information required during more routine surveys.
Other Keep It Super Simple awards in the Skilled Care track:
- Silver: Maryland-based Nexion Health established a companywide VoiceFriend partnership with multilingual capabilities to communicate with residents, families and staff about COVID-19 and more.
- Bronze: Duncanville Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Duncanville, TX, implemented technology such as Zoom and telehealth visits as it established a COVID-19 unit.
Competition entries were submitted May through July this year and judged by an independent panel of industry experts, including skilled care and senior living specialists.
Stanley Healthcare is the Platinum sponsor of the 2020 McKnight’s Excellence in Technology Awards. MatrixCare is the Gold sponsor for the Senior Living track.
