Cloud-Based Home Care Delivery

HomaCare provides digital solutions for health care providers, with a specific focus on applications used in home-based services.  Using its subscription-based solution, HomaCare allows for customized, data-driven services which promote patient well-being.  By tracking delivery of services and monitoring the use of medication, HomaCare promotes accountability and ensures that patients receive care when and where they need it.

HomaCare asked Nextware to create a hosted solution – one which would allow the company’s clients to better manage home health aides and their activities through web and mobile applications.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) contains strict requirements designed to protect the health information of patients.  HIPAA mandates the use of strong security protocols for every part of an electronic transaction involving health-related information, including storage on a server, transmission of data, and security of mobile devices.  Creating a hosted solution which provides both an intuitive user experience and HIPAA-compliant security is the challenge that Nextware was presented with.

Integration with the Food and Drug Administration’s medication database added another level of complexity to HomaCare’s requirements.  Securely drawing regularly updated information from the FDA database, the solution would then have to disseminate that data to home health aides in the field using the same strict HIPAA security protocols.

Nextware was also challenged to create a multi-layered system which could handle the relationships between HomaCare, its client companies, and home health aides.  In order to provide both flexibility and accountability, HomaCare required several types of system administration – each tailored to the unique demands of different stakeholders.

Working on a tight schedule, the Nextware team built the solution using AWS as the hosting platform and Ruby on Rails as the server side development language.  The solution utilized a seamless mix of email, SMS, and VOIP integration to manage communications about patient care.

HomaCare’s clients now use the solution to manage appointment schedules, provide administrators with data about missed appointments, and empower patients with information about their medication schedules.  Nextware also designed mobile apps for HomaCare with the end-user experience in mind, creating an easy to use interface which promotes adoption and use.

Nextware also developed an auto scheduler to simplify management of home health aides at the company level.  Using data on patient medications and care schedules, the scheduling application gave HomaCare’s clients the ability to easily manage the workflow of a remote workforce.

HomaCare CEO Farr Farhan expressed his appreciation of the Nextware solution:  “We came to Nextware with our backs against the wall.  The project timeline for development of our solution was very aggressive, and we had already fallen behind schedule.  We knew about Nextware’s reputation for fast and reliable software implementations, and with the client starting to grumble we turned to Nextware for a solution.”

“Nextware lived up to the strong references we received.  We were truly impressed with their ability to accommodate our needs and deliver quality work in the shortest time possible.  Nextware worked very closely with us during the entire project.  They efficiently managed the whole development process, from requirements gathering and design to integration with our backend system, testing and deployment.  Most importantly, we felt that they treated our business and our clients as theirs.”