ROV Barcode Scanner Case Study: Robertson


Robertson Adult Day Healthcare revamps Attendance & Activity Tracking

Business Situation

Robertson Adult Day Health Care, located in Sacramento, CA, is run by Rehabilitation Therapy, Inc. The facility provides a variety of services, including nursing services such as weighing participants and taking their vital signs; lab services such as testing their blood sugar; therapeutic services such as physical, speech, and occupational therapy; social services; and lunches.

The state of California requires Robertson Adult Day Health Care to keep close track of the services it provides each participant, and regularly audits them to verify that participants actually received the services for which the state is being charged. In the past, the facility tracked participants and services manually—but with an average of 50 participants using the facility each day, keeping accurate track of arrivals, departures, and services used was a challenge.

Business Solution

Robertson Adult Day Healthcare now tracks participants and their activities with Microvision ROV Scanners, connected via a Microvision USB cable to Windows-based PCs running CADCare software from RTZ Associates. The facility uses the ROV
Scanners in keyboard mode, meaning that scanning data is input directly into the CADCare application, just as though it had been manually keyed in, without requiring any connectivity software. “It’s really convenient,” says Vernon Moore, IT Manager at Robertson Adult Day Health Care. “You just plug the ROV Scanner in, start scanning, and the data goes into the program automatically.”

When new participants first come to the facility, they are given an initial assessment by the staff and then entered into the CADCare program, which prints a barcoded nametag for them and a report showing the services they are to receive.

Currently, the facility is working with just two scanners—one located at the front door, to scan participants when they arrive and leave, and one in the lab, to scan them when they get blood sugar tests. Next, they’ll expand the scanning to include weight and vital sign checks. “Eventually, we expect to scan participants for all activities, from the time they’re picked up to the time they’re dropped off,” says Moore. “That will save us a tremendous amount of time, plus it will really enhance our accuracy.”

Benefits

  • Highly Accurate Tracking: Before, the desk attendant manually wrote down arrivals and departures and lab staff manually recorded blood sugar checks, but there was no way to verify the information. Now the facility has proof of participant arrivals, departures, and blood sugar tests.
  • Streamlined Audits: “Audits used to be a real hassle,” says Moore. “They would often find discrepancies in our manual records. Now everything matches up, and we have proof that participants arrived and left when we say they did.”
  • Major Time Savings : “There was lots of duplication of effort when we did everything by hand,” says Moore. “For instance, participant arrival and departure times were written down both on the attendance roster and on the transportation roster; then they were manually entered into CADCare.
    Now everyone is automatically scanned in and out, and we can also generate bills automatically and send them electronically to Medi-Cal. I’d say the people in the front office have increased their efficiency by about 15%—and the added bonus is that this gives them more time to spend one-on-one with program participants.”
  • Easy to Use : “We also have an ID Tech scanner, and we find the ROV Scanners much easier to use,” says Moore. “They’re much more tolerant with regard to how precisely you have to point them. With the ID Tech scanner, you sometimes had to make four or five passes over the barcode to get it to record it; with the ROV Scanner, it usually picks it up on the first try.”
    Summing up his experience with the CADCare and the ROV Scanner solution, Moore says, “It makes my life a lot easier, because now we don’t have to enter data manually or generate reports manually. In the past, every time an auditor questioned an attendance figure, I had to dig through the paperwork and manually enter the data. It’s probably freed up an hour a day of my own time; it gives our staff more time to spend with participants; and it has really improved the accuracy of our record keeping.”

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