The Future Leaders Awards program is brought to you in partnership with Homecare Homebase. The program is designed to recognize up-and-coming industry members who are shaping the next decade of home health, hospice care, senior housing, skilled nursing, and behavioral health. To see this year’s Future Leaders, visit https://futureleaders.agingmedia.com/.
Laurel Arias, senior director of client experience at Axxess, has been named a 2024 Future Leader by Home Health Care News.
To become a Future Leader, an individual is nominated by their peers. The candidate must be a high-performing employee who is 40 years old or younger, a passionate worker who knows how to put vision into action, and an advocate for seniors, and the committed professionals who ensure their wellbeing.
Arias sat down with Home Health Care News to explain the evolving role of technology in home-based care, and why all leaders should possess the trait of adaptability.
What drew you to this industry?
I was really drawn to this industry because of how technology can make a difference in care.
At Axxess, I’ve seen how technology can help home health providers do their jobs better. This lets them focus on what’s most important — care for patients. It’s amazing to work in a space where innovation has such a direct impact on people’s lives.
What’s your biggest lesson learned since starting to work in this industry?
The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that technology has to be adaptable and easy to use.
My team and I work through hundreds of implementations each year. We hear from many providers that they want a solution that helps them deliver care and does not need a lot of technology knowledge or workarounds to get the job done. No matter how advanced a solution is, if it does not make things simpler for care teams, it is not doing its job. At Axxess, we always listen to our clients and refine our solutions based on their feedback.
If you could change one thing with an eye toward the future of home health or home care, what would it be?
I’d love to see better integration between technology and the day-to-day clinical operations in home health. Systems need to be able to talk to each other in as close to real time as possible to have that immediate impact at the bedside.
Otherwise, caregivers can get bogged down with administrative work or sending out emails or texts to get the information they need. That time adds up and can definitely lead to burnout or the kind of fatigue that leads to errors. The more we can streamline communication and reduce administrative work, the more time caregivers have to spend with patients. It’s all about making the caregiver’s job easier so they can focus on delivering great care.
What do you foresee as being different about the home health or home care industry looking ahead to 2025?
By 2025, I think we’ll see a bigger shift toward using data and technology to predict and prevent issues before they happen. Things like AI and remote monitoring are going to become much more common, helping caregivers take action before a patient’s condition worsens. It’s exciting to think about how that will improve care quality.
In a word, how would you describe the future of home health or home care?
Transformative.
What quality must all Future Leaders possess?
I’d say adaptability. The health care world is changing fast, especially with technology, so future leaders need to be flexible and open to new ways of doing things.
To learn more about the Future Leaders program, visit https://futureleaders.agingmedia.com/.
