This article is sponsored by Homecare Homebase, (HCHB). In this Voices interview, Home Health Care News sits down with Lynn Carroll, VP Product Management – EHR, Homecare Homebase, to talk about the roots of HCHB in the home-based care industry, and its continued collaboration and partnership with providers as they develop new tools, service lines and features. She also explores the numerous ways HCHB incorporates provider input into its product development, and how her previous experience helps bridge the gap between technology and care.
What life and career experiences do you most draw from, in your role today?
My first job in health care IT was taking phone calls in the support center at Athenahealth. At that time, we were not able to remote into the caller’s computer, so successfully helping people meant knowing the application by heart and solving the user’s issues with their verbal feedback alone. I learned so much in that role and developed a tremendous amount of empathy for nurses and clinicians who have to navigate clunky software while caring for patients simultaneously.
It gave me incredible joy when I could help professionals use their applications more effectively and fueled my desire to make a bigger impact in this field. When I took a product manager role at CareCloud, it broadened my product management skills and allowed me to work closely with doctors to build entire experiences for specialties like ophthalmology, rheumatology and Ob/Gyn.
These experiences have taught me a ton about the importance of engaging with users, truly listening to their pain points and desires, and then taking the time to observe them in their own environments. By seeing how they interact with patients versus the application, and identifying where they get stuck or slowed down by the application, we can better understand how to remedy those scenarios and enhance their experience.
Why is provider input so important for health care technology companies?
My product team and I just finished an internal learning session on personas, and one of the key takeaways is that we all have our own biases, assumptions and perspectives that naturally come out when we’re designing and building software. That said, it’s incredibly important to remind ourselves that we are not our users.
We need to leverage the tools and methods out there to ensure we’re building what our partners truly need, and talking to providers and clinicians is one of the best ways to do that. I often remind my team that they need to be engaging our users on a regular basis. If they go 2, 4, or 6 weeks without talking to a user then that’s been 2, 4 or 6 weeks worth of decisions made without validation.
Clinicians have the biggest voice these days in the selection of EHRs, so it is incredibly pertinent for my team and I to be getting continuous input from our users and leveraging that to iterate and move the needle in satisfying our clinical users.
What are some of the ways HCHB incorporates ideas and feedback from providers into product planning?
My team hosts a monthly tactical cabinet with clinical representatives from across the country. These cabinets provide my team with an opportunity to validate and get actionable feedback on the roadmap, features, workflow, and even the data we’re collecting to support the decisions we’re making. Through this group, we’ve been able to establish some really great connections and partnerships where my product managers can reach out and engage these folks as needed.
We’re also encouraging our product teams to shadow administrators or participate in ride-a-longs with clinicians. With our large customer base, there are often several customers that our product folks can connect with right in their backyard to gain this experience. Going into a home health or hospice patient’s home is incredibly humbling and helps build empathy for our clinical users and the challenges they encounter on a daily basis. Leveraging these opportunities and the feedback we’re able to gain informs our decision-making around the roadmap.
What does a true partnership between a software vendor and a provider look like?
In a successful partnership between a vendor and a provider, collaboration is key. They work closely together on the implementation, customization, and optimization of the software to meet the provider’s specific needs. Both parties are committed to innovation, with the vendor regularly updating the software with new features and the provider contributing ideas for improvements based on their experience. The relationship is built on mutual trust and transparency, with both parties acting with integrity in all dealings. Additionally, risks and rewards are shared, with both parties invested in the success of the software implementation and usage.
What do you enjoy most about working with customers on software development?
The moments when we achieve a milestone or goal together makes all of the work worthwhile. All the grit that goes into getting there — from creating connections and trust, to experimenting, failing fast, and innovating on solutions. It’s like being in trenches together, and once you get to the other side and reach a new milestone, it is so rewarding. Successful collaboration fuels that rhythm to keep us moving forward.
Finish this sentence: “In the home-based care industry, 2024 is being defined by…”
…improving outcomes.
We are seeing providers focus more and more on innovating in our space to improve care coordination and patient outcomes while navigating market challenges like
clinician capacity, regulatory uncertainty and financial pressures. We are here to help, side by side, ensuring we’re delivering solutions that help providers change this narrative.
Editor’s note: This article has been edited for length and clarity.
Homecare Homebase is a software leader offering hosted, cloud-based solutions to streamline operations, simplify compliance and boost clinical and financial outcomes for home-based care agencies. Our customized mobile solutions enable real-time, wireless data exchange and communication between field clinicians, physicians and office staff for better care, more accurate reporting and improved revenue cycle management. For more information, visit hchb.com.
The Voices Series is a sponsored content program featuring leading executives discussing trends, topics and more shaping their industry in a question-and-answer format. For more information on Voices, please contact sales@agingmedia.com.
The post Voices: Lynn Carroll, VP Product Management – EHR, Homecare Homebase appeared first on Home Health Care News.
