Twilight Aged Care

Company Background

Twilight Aged Care is a not-for-profit company, established in 1915. The company offers low care and moderate high care accommodation for seniors at four hostels in the northern Sydney region including: Glengarry in Mosman; Horton House in Gordon; Jamieson House in Beecroft; and, Onslow House in Mosman.

With 140 residents, Twilight Aged Care’s primary aim is to provide homes to men and women who need care and to offer support to their families. It is committed to providing the highest quality holistic care and services for residents to allow them to maintain independence, individuality, dignity and quality of life in a safe and supportive home-like environment.

Modernising for a Changing World

Twilight Aged Care previously used a financial solution provided by MYOB and a separate access database for resident information; however, the two systems could not be integrated.

Twilight Aged Care also realised it did not have an effective and robust means of reconciling fees and subsidies paid by the government, which is an imperative part of its business.

Twilight Aged Care required a resident management solution designed specifically for aged care providers. The solution would need the capability to manage critical resident data from initial enquiry to entry into care, as well as, key financial information.

John Stuart, CEO of Twilight Aged Care explained, “We really lacked a centralised system whereby we could effectively manage all resident and client data, as well as, our financial data, including subsidies provided by the government. We needed something that could operate effortlessly across all four hostels.”

Subsequently, Twilight Aged Care made the decision to introduce the Epicor Senior Living Solution (Epicor SLS) and iCare’s Clinical Care and Medication Management Solution.

Choosing Industry Leading Solutions

Resident & Finance Management

Having reviewed a number of vendors in the market place, Twilight Aged Care selected Epicor SLS. Twilight Aged Care opted to work with Epicor Software Corporation primarily because of its proven track record in the aged care industry.

Stuart explained, “We identified Epicor as an international leader and expert in its field. As a result we felt confident it would be a great fit for our organisation and could match our specific needs.”

In terms of Epicor SLS specifically, Twilight Aged Care felt the solution was not only very strong from a resident management perspective, but it also had a robust and flexible finance platform.

“We realised early on that other products, including SAP just weren’t up to scratch when it came to combining the two capabilities we required most, in resident management and finance. Not only could we raise the bar of resident care because of increased transparency, Epicor SLS also had a strong reporting component where we could clearly analyze data and run financial reports,” Stuart commented.

Of the company’s 100 staff, a large proportion utilises Epicor SLS daily including: the facility management and finance departments; the administration manager; a number of registered nurses; as well as, the CEO.

Twilight Aged Care relies on Epicor SLS to manage all financial processes for residents across its four facilities. Epicor SLS ensures Twilight Aged Care remains compliant and adheres to the regulatory standards set out by the government when allocating resident funding.

Clinical Care Management

Having used Epicor SLS with such success, Twilight Aged Care recognised the inherent value IT systems could offer the company by means of driving greater efficiencies through automation and by reducing the margin of human error through manual, paper-based data management systems.

A core strength Twilight Aged Care recognised in Epicor SLS was the ease with which it could integrate with Australia’s leading provider of Clinical Care and Medication Management software, iCare Solutions (iCare). It was with little trepidation that Twilight Aged Care made the decision to introduce a clinical and care management solution.

Stuart explained, “When internal systems are not integrated, data entry can not only be laborious and time-consuming, there is also a much greater margin for human error.”

He continued, “By introducing highly flexible and easily configurable best of breed resident and care management solutions we were sure we could deliver business value, corporate governance and more importantly, quality improvement for our residents.”

Under iCare, documentation and duplication of tasks are reduced. The iCare system provides care staff the means to facilitate better care management practices through the creation of key administrative tools. iCare’s fully integrated medication management system lowers the risk of medication errors and completes the most comprehensive view of an aged care resident’s health and well being.

Commenting on the iCare’s solution Stuart said, “We use iCare for all document management. Anything from accreditation, funding and legal documents are managed within the iCare system.”

From a care perspective iCare plays a pivotal role in the way the business operates day-to-day. The system is used by all of the registered nurses; all personal care assistants (PCAs); nursing assistants, as well as, the facility management team.

Managing Concurrent Systems – ACFI

Together, Epicor SLS and the iCare’s Clinical, Care and Medication Management Solution, play a critical role in the successful operation of Twilight Aged Care’s business. Operated concurrently, both systems act as the lifeblood of the organisation and ensure residents receive the highest level of care.

“Integration was a huge consideration for us when selecting a clinical and care management system,” said Stuart. “The solution we selected would need to work concurrently with existing IT systems we had in place. As industry leaders in their respective fields, both Epicor and iCare have created a competitive advantage through the ease of integration they have built into their solutions. In fact, both Epicor and iCare are so user-friendly we use them seamlessly across all our facilities. We can even access critical resident data and care information remotely.”

Stuart explained, “We manage all new leads and resident admissions through Epicor SLS. Once a resident has been admitted to a facility, we create an ‘episode of care’ using Epicor SLS, which automatically creates an incidence or entry into iCare. The two solutions work seamlessly together.”

Results

Twilight Aged Care has enjoyed innumerable benefits since implementing both Epicor SLS and iCare’s Clincal, Care and Medication Management Solution.

In terms of Epicor SLS specifically, Twilight Aged Care has consolidated information across the group and eliminated the double entry of data giving the business much greater confidence in the integrity of information. It now has one central repository where all information is stored and can be easily accessed.

“By far one of the key benefits we have enjoyed as a result of Epicor SLS has been the establishment of a single repository of data that can be accessed throughout the entire organisation,” Stuart said.

Twilight Aged Care has also enjoyed significant success in the improvement of its financial processes not only in terms of resident records and payments but also in terms of compliance and reporting.

Stuart commented, “Not only did we have the capacity to comply with the changes that came into effect in 2006/07 to legislation in credential reporting and compliance, we have also enjoyed increased productivity. We have achieved this predominantly through the automation of our finance system, to include resident billing and government subsidies through Epicor SLS.”

Following the introduction of the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) in March 2008, Twilight Aged Care was also fully prepared for the changes ACFI represented. The Aged Care Funding Instrument is the classification instrument underpinning the funding model to pay subsidies to Residential Aged Care Services. As part of the government’s $1.6 billion Securing the future of Aged Care for Australians initiative, ACFI enables aged care providers to process care assessments electronically.

Commenting on how Epicor supported Twilight Aged Care in advance of ACFI Stuart said, “Epicor was incredibly supportive in the build up to the introduction of ACFI, in addition to other legislation being introduced around the government’s aged care initiative. They made it very simple for us to accommodate all the necessary changes, which in many cases were particularly complex. Through its SLS solution, Epicor helped automate the entire process which would otherwise have been a very laborious and complicated task.”

Following the introduction of ACFI, Twilight Aged Care became the first aged care provider in Australia to process an online claim with the assistance of Epicor, who was itself the first software vendor to receive a notice of integration by Medicare Australia for online claiming, under ACFI.

Given Epicor SLS’ ability to work seamlessly with iCare, and vice versa, Twilight Aged Care has also garnered significant benefits in the area of documentation management. It has created a series of administrative tools to manage and control resident care, driving greater efficiencies through the business and freeing up additional resource to dedicate to resident care.

“We have improved the quality of documentation required for accreditation. This is highly important in our industry,” said Stuart.

Twilight has also created a series of internal processes leveraging the iCare system to improve the standard of care provided to residents.

Stuart explained, “As part of the quality care we offer at Twilight, we have tailored and adapted best practice guidelines using iCare’s clinical documentation system to assist in identifying and managing residents at risk of falls, for example. The tool has improved our visibility of resident needs immensely.”