Interview with David Strohli

Administrator, Emerest Health of New Jersey

Emerest Health of New Jersey, a division of Royal Care, serves approximately 220 clients in nine counties throughout the state. In providing services such as remote patient monitoring, certified home health aides (CHHAS), live-in CHHAS, and registered nurses, Emerest strives to ensure safety and optimal health for its members and peace of mind for their families.

Why did Emerest choose HHAeXchange?

Our company had gone through a lot of challenges with other software and was using multiple systems to perform different functions. What we liked about HHAeXchange is
that it’s all integrated. Everything you need to successfully run a homecare business is in one system – scheduling, billing, payroll, EVV, and more.

What has your experience with EVV been like so far?

In New Jersey, EVV became mandatory in January 2021. HHAeXchange won the contract with the state of NJ for EVV aggregation.

Given that we were already using HHAeXchange, and the EVV feature is built in, we were ahead of the curve. Today, we’re operational with all the health maintenance organizations (HMOs).

HHAeXchange also offers multiple EVV methods, such as the mobile app, telephony, and FOB device, which give our caregivers flexible options for how they want to clock-in and out.

Have you found that your caregivers prefer using one method of EVV over another?

I’d say between 75-80% of our caregivers prefer using the mobile app. It’s the easiest tool for EVV. The app also offers a lot of great features. For example, with the app, aides can keep track of their hours and see their shifts right from their phone.

What’s your favorite feature on the HHAeXchange platform?

As an administrator, it’s important for me to be able to monitor everything – to make sure EVV is being done, and that schedules and authorizations are being taken care of. I love the Visit feature, where I can review patients’ calendars for the week and see if there are any shifts that need to be filled. I can also view caregivers’ schedules, so when we get new referrals, I can easily see if anyone is available to take on more hours. I use the feature every day; it saves me a lot of time.

How does HHAeXchange make your team’s work easier?

The fact that we can access HHAeXchange from anywhere, even if we’re working from home, is a game changer. Since it’s an online software, you can log in from wherever you are. Throughout this whole pandemic, with people working from home, we’ve been able to easily communicate and ensure everyone is kept aware of what’s going on.

It makes our whole team’s work easier because everyone has access to whatever they need in one platform. For example, our Billing department can see everything we do, even though we’re not even in the same building. Once they process the billing, I can see which checks are created for whom and for what. If anyone has any questions, I can just look it up in the system. HHAeXchange saves all of us a lot of time.

Would you attribute any of your agency’s growth to HHAeXchange?

Yes, for a few reasons. Nowadays, whenever we get a new referral, all we have to do is log in to HHAeXchange, view the caregivers’ schedules, filter by location, and see who is
available. We can respond a lot quicker, and this way we can ensure that we do not lose any cases that are referred to us.

Everything goes smoothly because everyone can work as a team. When employees are happy, there are no complaints!

We don’t have any issues with caregivers getting paid on time because of the efficiency HHAeXchange provides us. Caregivers want to stay with us longer instead of moving on to other agencies.

Would you recommend HHAeXchange to others?

Absolutely. People can be afraid of change. They might get used to a certain system, and they won’t want to move to a new system because there might be processes they aren’t
familiar with.

I’ve found HHAeXchange to be very user-friendly and very easy to figure out. If you’re looking to become more efficient, there’s no reason not to use HHAeXchange.