Long Term Care ISVs Have Come a Long Way

Essentially, it’s only been since the late 1980’s that long term care has had access to industry-specific software applications. Since that time, we have seen significant growth in the number and variety of applications offered from stand-alone applications to integrated suites: clinical, financial, time and attendance, scheduling, HR, time clock management, in-service tracking, and patient trust accounts, even physical plant management and more. With such applications, whether web-based or web-enabled, providers and their staff can input, process, and retrieve business-critical information.

An article in McKnight’s Long Term Care News, published in December 2005, entitled, Technology making inroads, bit by bit, Providers are learning to better harness the power of information, points out that, “Compared to 1980, operators now have a much better understanding of their costs, strengths, weaknesses and how to consider their futures….Armed with new tools, new goals and a new mindset, providers are embracing the power of information as never before.”

The article further states, “Clearly, the Bush administration is pursuing a path intended to make health records as transportable and uniform as Social Security numbers (at least among qualified providers). The government also has pushed technology’s adoption in more subtle ways: by creating data-based repositories for clinical and reimbursement information, by requiring providers to electronically transmit data, and by increasingly using the Internet to reveal and disseminate information.

“Moreover, it’s a rare month that passes without a vendor unveiling a new data-management tool. Twenty-five years ago, advanced features included options like staff scheduling, multi-user capability, documentation and financials. Those options have since become standard issue, while a new generation of software and hardware options are challenging established boundaries for information gathering.”

The following is a partial list (listed alphabetically by category) of the ISVs (independent software vendors) who are players in the arena of long term care software development. They are listed by category, but clearly many of the applications listed also offer solutions across several categories.

Operations Management

• REPS Software (Independent Living)
• Vigilan (Assisted Living)

Clinical and Financial

• Achieve HealthCare
• Accu-Med Services
• ADL Data Systems
• Answers on Demand
• American Data
• American Health Care Software Enterprises, Inc.
• American HEALTHTECH
• CareGiver Management Systems
• Compudata Health Corporation
• Continuex Corporation
• Creative Solutions Unlimited, Inc.
• Health Care Information Solutions
• Health Care Software
• HealthMEDX
• Hi-Tech Software Solutions
• Keane Care
• LifeCare Software Solutions
• LINTECH
• MDI/Monette
• Momentum Healthware
• Move-N Software
• PointClickCare
• Optimus
• QuickCARE
• RH Positive
• Reliable Health Systems

Clinical

• Accunurse
• GiftRAP
• InfoSys
• Interactive Health Network
• Medical Communications Systems (MCS)
• MEDITECH
• Omnicare
• Qtrac
• RobinTek
• SAEncompass
• SigmaCare
• Wincare

Therapy

• Therastat

Services Tracking

• CareTracker by Resource Systems
• Healthcare Solutions
• LTCQ

Financial/Billing

• Great Plains
• Sage Software
• SOS Corporation

MDS Auditing

• Hi-Tech Software Solutions
• eHealth Data Solutions

Time and Attendance, Time Clock, HR

• ADP
• Count Me In
• Kronos for healthcare
• Paychex
• TimeTrak Systems

Scheduling

• Atlas Business Solutions
• Kronos for healthcare
• SmartLinx Solutions
• TimeTrak Systems

Resident Fund Management

• National Datacare Corporation

Physical Plant Management

• Windmill

Education and Training/Inservice Tracking

• Care2Learn
• Silverchair Learning Systems
• Upstairs Solutions

Dietary

• CBORD Group
• DietMaster Systems
• MealTracker Dietary Software
• Prime Care Technologies
• SureQuest Systems

Pharmacy

• Artromick
• Omnicare