How Has COVID-19 Affected Home Care Organizations?

Usually, when the economy is struggling, healthcare tends to remain unaffected. After all, injuries and sickness don’t take a break for a recession. This time, the healthcare industry has not escaped the impacts COVID-19 has had on so many other parts of the economy. From orthodontists to neurosurgeons, everyone has been touched by this public health crisis. 

While many primary care offices suspended or reduced services and hospitals have been pushed to their operational and financial limits, home care does not neatly fit into either role in healthcare systems. For these organizations, which make up most of CompanyMileage’s customer base, how did COVID-19 affect their operations? We took a look at how our customers have used our platform since the beginning of the pandemic. We found that software usage varies depending on the types of services you provide. 

CompanyMileage Usage Data

Our home health and hospice clients make up approximately 55% of CompanyMileage’s customers. Their utilization of our SureMileage products has not materially changed during COVID-19. This indicates what most in home healthcare already know: These workers are critical to the healthcare ecosystem. While telehealth has been getting a lot of attention lately, virtual care cannot completely replace in-person care for these organizations. 

The remaining 45% of our customers primarily consist of other home visit organizations which address mental health, behavioral health, child and family services and foster care. According to CompanyMileage’s data, these organizations saw a significant decline in utilization of our platform during April and May. This would suggest that these organizations have either had to reduce or suspend treatment for the time being, or they have adopted a telehealth approach. 

What is the future for home care organizations? 

There is much debate about how this pandemic will play out and alongside it, the economic recession we’re currently experiencing. For the time being, there is good news for CompanyMileage customers, though. So far in June, utilization has increased overall 40% in number of trips as well as total miles, and user levels have increased 20%. This indicates that workers are beginning to feel comfortable enough to visit their patients at home again and are returning to more normal routines.

Are you getting back on the road again?

CompanyMileage customers save an average of 25% on mileage reimbursement costs. If it’s come time for your organization to take your visits back to the road, it’s also time to bring your mileage reimbursement program to the web. With point-to-point calculations, integration with major accounting systems, and user-friendly mobile apps, we eliminate the issues that arise with logging odometer readings and manually processing reimbursement requests. Request a demo with CompanyMileage today to get started.