A turbulent year for Senior Care providers
Looking back at 2020 in hindsight, it was definitely a turbulent year for senior care providers as they were forced to navigate previously uncharted waters around the COVID-19 pandemic. As one of the industries hit the hardest by the virus, it was no surprise as many providers had to put all sorts of projects and planned out endeavors on hold in an effort to safeguard their patients and staff. Projects that required onsite service were out of the question, previously vital initiatives had to take a backseat, and of course cutting costs wherever possible was a requirement.
As we enter 2021, the end of this pandemic is hopefully more in sight now than ever,
but the scenario described above is still very much a reality for a large segment of senior care providers.
However, as ProviNET looks back at the past year, we were honored to work alongside some providers who still persisted through key technology projects that they refused to put on hold, knowing they would better equip their organizations to continue to fight through the current landscape. And they did this all relying heavily on virtual technologies to bring their projects to completion, yet still provide the safest environment possible for the communities. It is our privilege to showcase a few of these providers and how they persevered with mission critical projects, while leveraging a virtual delivery and partnership with ProviNET Solutions.
Full Scale EHR Implementation
Going through a transition from one EHR to another is always a huge task for a provider, even when there isn’t a pandemic to navigate around. However, in the summer of 2020, one CCRC in South Carolina still saw the value in moving to a more modern EHR solution to provide better care to their patients and a better experience for their staff. The one challenge though was ensuring that the clinicians felt comfortable and fully educated in how to use the new EHR as it became their new daily workflow.
IT Strategic Planning
Even before COVID, ProviNET was seeing a good deal of providers striving to put together a focused plan around technology, one that would fit around their overall strategic plan for the organization. Prior to 2020, there was a big push in the industry to revolutionize how providers saw technology, and ProviNET was fortunate to be the first-choice partner for a good deal of them with our IT Strategic Planning projects. However, as the team began one of these projects with a multi-site community just outside of Boston, we found ourselves in a unique spot as the country began to go on lockdown.
Augmentation
One common theme that we have found during COVID is that a lot of providers may still have a big desire for implementing new technology amidst the pandemic, but they are afraid to put any additional burden on their staff that such efforts may require. However, some of our customers have still found a way to move forward with new technology projects to realize all the benefits they offer, while still shielding their teams from shouldering a lot of the burden.
Arising of a New Era in Aging Services
Again, looking back over 2020 in hindsight it is easy to only picture it as a bleak year for the senior care industry. However, as the industry learned from the pandemic and began to see where strengthening must occur, we can just as easily look back and see the year as one of persistence, perseverance, and the arising of a new era in aging services. Many trends and learnings were identified (and are still being discovered as we continue to fight through COVID), but one core tenant of those learnings is technology is a pillar in the industry.
It is here to stay and should no longer be seen as just a cost center, but a must have tool that can help us be nimble and continue to deliver care to our aging population in new and exciting ways that are much more future-proof than relying on what worked a decade or two ago. This same technology allows us to continue to move forward with mission critical projects even in a time of social distancing.
At ProviNET, it is our mission to see providers succeed and thrive with technology. We were honored to work with these and many other organizations in 2020 as they persisted through the challenges of the pandemic to acquire new capabilities to better fight it and anything else they come against in the future.
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