In his many years in personal home care, Caring Senior Service CEO Jeff Salter has seen trends come and go.
One he has stuck with, however, is a constant commitment to searching for the next advancements in technology.
Between recruiting, onboarding and care management plans, Caring Senior Service have prided themselves on leveraging technology to stay ahead of the curve.
“Back in 2015, we recognized that most of the software providers out there were really forcing us to follow their way of doing business,” Salter told Home Health Care News. “We found that that wasn’t productive for the way that we wanted to assess and create service plans for our clients. We needed our software to be highly customizable, in a way that would allow us to be flexible.”
The San Antonio, Texas-based home care franchise company Caring Senior Service has more than 50 locations across nearly 20 states.
Almost a decade ago, Caring Senior Service created its own software that allowed the provider to curate more personalized service plans for its clients.
It was at that time when Salter believes he and his company made a considerable shift in philosophy.
“Around that time was when we decided to stop being what I consider order takers,” Salter said. “Instead of taking someone’s order like a server would at a restaurant, we started being actively involved in the planning for someone’s services.”
By leveraging its own technology and moving from analog assessments to a digital-first approach, Caring Senior Service and its caregivers were able to more deliberately assess.
And now, that swift progression in technology has only blossomed in recent years.
“When we launched it, we moved to a completely electronic format so that we’re sitting in front of the client with a tablet and were able to incorporate a smart algorithm in the assessment process,” Salter said. “Now we’re moving towards using AI to help us create the suggestions of what a service plan could look like for a client based upon what we’re discovering during those interviews.”
Home care providers are still tinkering with ways to incorporate AI into their operations. Providers have told HHCN they’re using AI for documentation, scheduling and marketing.
Caring Senior Service is also using it during the hiring process.
“We as an industry have created a bit of an arms race when it comes to acquiring caregivers,” Salter said. “Caring — and everyone else out there — is suddenly receiving a lot more applicants than they’re used to and it’s challenging filtering through those efficiently and effectively.”
Caring Senior Service is using AI in its chat bots to interact with applicants very early on in the hiring process as a way to better understand applicants in a speedier way.
“We’re investing in really smart chatbots that can interact with the applicants in a way that is very unique to the industry,” Salter said. “Using the AI technology, you can really have a regular, seemingly natural conversation to gain a lot more information about that applicant prior to them having to get engaged with in-depth questions.”
Salter clarified that it doesn’t use AI to filter out candidates. Instead, they are using it as a screening tool so that when real people in a human resources department take the lead, those employees are more informed on who they’re interviewing.
“That’s when we’re able to focus on those in-depth personality questions that give us a better idea if that person is a good fit for home care,” Salter said.
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