Post-Acute Care 2020
Portfolios Grow with an Eye on Enterprise

A Few Notes about This Research:

• This report examines customer satisfaction only for vendors with at least 100 unique customer organizations (combined total across all post–acute care and behavioral health offerings).

• Historically, KLAS’s customer satisfaction data for home health and hospice solutions has been reported on jointly. This report marks the first time KLAS has examined the two areas separately, so feedback for all hospice solutions is early.

Since discontinuing the sale of their poor-performing Home and Community Care, Cerner has encouraged customers to move to third-party partner MatrixCare for home health and hospice. The handful of customers KLAS has interviewed who have made the jump report increased satisfaction. They are pleased with MatrixCare’s ticketing and problem resolution and say their clinical staff like the product experience. Some former Cerner customers, particularly large agencies with a high average daily census, have moved to Homecare Homebase, who is frequently chosen by very large home health and hospice agencies. Satisfaction with the vendor, a previous Best in KLAS winner, has declined over the last several years, and customers now report a middle-of-the-road experience for integration, functionality, and support. Customer satisfaction for Kinnser customers has stayed relatively steady following their acquisition by WellSky.

KLAS’s initial look at Comfort, Epic’s hospice-specific module, has been mostly positive—customers say the solution delivers what was expected and has a positive impact on clinician productivity. Functionality is a weak spot, with customers citing the need for additional documentation capabilities and improved integration with Dorothy (home health) and Hyperspace. Described as intuitive, MatrixCare’s solution leads the way in hospice customer satisfaction. Helpful training is provided by the vendor as well as within the product itself. Homecare Homebase’s hospice solution is rated well below their home health product, with customers reporting unkept promises and stretched support resources. The hospice functionality is considered robust and helpful, but customers are frustrated with the vendor’s slow development. WellSky’s performance in hospice, as in home health, meets most functionality and integration needs.

PointClickCare’s loyal customer base reports a balance of robust functionality and strong usability (PointClickCare outperforms all competitors for functionality and ease of use). The system is considered stable and reliable, even through upgrades, bolstering customer confidence in future development. MatrixCare’s overall performance score has declined about 10 points (out of 100) over the last two years. This is due in part to rapid growth that has strained support resources and the vendor’s ability to effectively develop and deliver new technology. Former HealthMEDX customers have suffered following the acquisition by Netsmart, with support declining and development and integration promises failing to come to fruition. Cantata Health customers report similar challenges and say they predate the acquisitions by NTT DATA and then Cantata.

In a low-satisfaction market, Cerner, Credible, and Qualifacts do the best job meeting behavioral health needs, though not consistently. Cerner’s customer support is one bright spot—customers appreciate that Cerner resources have behavioral health–specific knowledge, and several customers say responsiveness has improved in recent months. Functionality is an opportunity for improvement; users say the product is click heavy and the notes are not intuitive. Satisfaction among Credible customers has declined since January 2020, particularly around development and value. Customers say upgrades are oversold, and the timing of development does not match the promised road map. In contrast, the Qualifacts experience has improved compared to past years, though challenges still persist. The vendor’s support is said to be more effective, and the solution’s usability has improved. The vendor relationship, while moving in the right direction, is still tactical (as opposed to strategic); frequent nickel-and-diming and a failure to keep promises prevent customers from viewing Qualifacts as a true partner.

Large Health Systems Targeting Home Health and Behavioral Health for Internal Expansion

Large health systems that provide home health services plan to grow their services mainly through internal growth strategies, with occasional focus on partners or affiliates. When their acute care EMR vendor is not an option, the 47 organizations interviewed will most often consider Homecare Homebase for go-forward technology. Behavioral health is the most frequently offered service line currently, and those planning to expand are likely to eschew partnerships in favor of aggressive internal growth. Hospice and LTC services are not as high of a priority for internal expansion; instead, organizations more often plan to expand through affiliates, especially for LTC. These organizations are looking mostly at Homecare Homebase for hospice and PointClickCare and Netsmart for LTC.

Record Sharing with Acute Care Setting Still Not Consistent

Healthcare organizations are looking for innovative, standardized ways to share data across the continuum of care. Many interviewed large hospitals use Carequality or CommonWell to improve their ability to share data, though connections to these frameworks can be limited, especially among certain customer bases. While many Cerner and Epic customers are connected, adoption among MEDITECH users is low, and the first Allscripts customer just went live with Carequality in Q3 2020. Many of the software vendors used by referral partners and affiliates are likewise unconnected to these national frameworks. MEDITECH customers are the least likely to report using digital means of sharing records with referral partners. Though Epic customers were not specifically asked about EpicCare Link, one-third mention using it as a way to share data.

More information on the early post–acute care and behavioral health adopters of CommonWell and Carequality will be available in an upcoming KLAS report (Q4 2020).