Netsmart recently released Homecare 19.1 and Mobile Tablet 4.4. Homecare 19.1 was a Hospice regulatory release to support HIS 2.02. In addition, it included enhancements and issue resolutions for issues associated with UTN processing. These UTN items are of particular importance for Illinois clients as the June relaunch of the Review Choice Demonstration program is approaching.
Mobile Tablet 4.4 continued to deliver enhancements to the platform for the 2500 monthly users of the solution. We are seeing a steady upward adoption of the solution by clients switching from the laptop solution to the tablet solution. This is driven by the light form factor, ease of use, and the speed of training on the solution.
The next major release planned is Homecare 19.2 and Mobile Tablet 4.5 in the summer of 2019. These releases will primarily be a feature release as no imminent regulatory items are currently planned into the release. However, Homecare 19.2 will be the first release to contain updates for PDGM changes.
System enhancements, to assist in supporting PDGM compliance, will be delivered across the remaining releases of 2019 and early 2020 with the most important release being Homecare 19.4 targeted for early December.
Helping to drive the PDGM features in those releases is the PDGM focus group. The 50 users of the focus group have been actively participating in focus group calls and NetsmartCares discussions. These discussions allow for direct feedback to the Product Management team in response to proposed PDGM system enhancements. It is not too late to join.
If you are interested in joining the focus group (around 2-4 hours a month), please email saleksza@ntst.com with your contact information.
Homecare 19.3 is targeted for the fall of 2019. While we do not have regulatory information at this time, historically there has been Hospice rate changes and regulations with an October 1 implementation date. Therefore, we are anticipating this release to be a Hospice regulatory release.