Top 6 Care Management Systems for NDIS & Aged Care Providers

Brevity

Brevity

Why you’ll love it

If you’re an NDIS provider; smaller in size; and have a tight budget, then Brevity could be for you. Even better it’s easy to use, has all the key functions you need to operate at a base level including support around client record management, HR modules, rostering and even some reportable analytics.

In short, yes, it does the job. Does it have the full automation that other systems have? No. But you wouldn’t expect that with the price you’re paying. It’s also great for providers who do support coordination, plan management & high intensity personal activities (clinical care) and private/brokered Aged Care (Home Care) services.

Be aware

Whilst it has the functionality you need to operate, you’ll find like an emerging wine connoisseur, your taste is likely to change as your business grows. The wine that you once liked doesn’t quite satisfy your needs anymore. You start to look for improved quality and substance. You want to tick more boxes. This is where Brevity can fall over for some providers — not being able grow and adapt as your business grows and demands more.

Summary

Brevity is a great first or second stone that represent the steps of growth in your business. Some providers don’t want to see massive growth, particularly sole traders or services operating in smaller regions — in these contexts, Brevity does the job. For those who have a bigger picture in mind, then consider a platform that is able to adequately grow with you — particularly if you have multiple sites, lots of staff and a more complex operational framework.

Comm.care by Pnyx

Comm.care by Pnyx

Why you’ll love it

Comm.care by Pnyx is a leading NDIS care management system offering all the features NDIS businesses need to provide consumer-centred care. It also offers features for DSS, MDS, CHSP and other funding sources, providing a comprehensive solution for care providers to manage all their services in one place.

The first impressive feature is Comm.care’s collaborative capability which enables you to give clients’ friends and families different login access levels and invite them on the platform. Comm.care also enables consensual collaboration with other organisations within the system to keep track of client goals and work collaboratively. The next big tick is the automatic NDIS price guide update, which allows the provider to easily manage their pricing without manually editing it every time.

The rostering system in Comm.care is intuitive and quick. Aside from basic rostering features, the system also offers group rosters, recurring appointments, tasks and multiple line items in a single appointment to save the repetitive tasks each day.

Comm.care also comes with seamless invoicing & integrated accounting features, which allow you to issue and send thousands of invoices in bulk and import them into your accounting systems like Xero, MYOB and Quickbooks for accounting reconciliation. As a result, you can spend more time providing the best care for your customers and growing your business.

Moreover, Comm.care is designed to grow with your business with its flexible plans, making it an ideal long-term solution for care providers. It can easily adapt and accommodate new services, clients, HR requirements and funding sources. Plus, it is significantly more affordable than other software providers, making it accessible and a scalable solution for businesses of all sizes.

Be aware

Even though Comm.care offers some HR functionalities such as tracking team member hours, shifts worked, and personalised rostering, you still need payroll software to calculate award interpretation, etc. Fortunately, you can integrate Comm.care seamlessly with financial and payroll software like Xero, Myob, Quickbooks, and NDIS for accurate timekeeping and payroll.

Besides, it’s worth noting that the compliance management feature of Comm.care allows you to create and upload service agreements on the platform. However, it currently doesn’t offer an e-signature feature.

Summary

Comm.care is a comprehensive and user-friendly NDIS care management system that helps providers streamline their care management, rostering and invoicing processes. Comm.care’s affordability, with no fixed costs, makes it an excellent solution for small to medium-sized NDIS, CHSP, MDS, and aged care providers looking for a perfect care management system to grow their business.

Lumary

Lumary

Why you’ll love it:

Lumary (as featured in SmartCompany) is one of the most exciting and fastest growing Care Management System used across both the Disability and Aged Care sectors — and it’s not by chance.

First up, Lumary has done its homework. Instead of mirroring many other systems, the platform has been imagined entirely from the ground up whilst leveraging the power of one of the World’s leading CMS providers, Salesforce. It also focusses on some serious efficiencies around workflow, operations, claiming and other key areas.

Further, Lumary’s completely cloud-based platform also reflects updates within its platform when compliance requirements change, this includes pricing. Whilst it doesn’t provide state and federal regulatory updates or your business’ policies and procedures to govern your operations, the team ensures you are operating within a compliant environment.

Aged Care providers have the added benefit or being able to utilise an interface with the Federal Government’s Services Australia for improved claiming processes.

Be aware:

It’s a great, intuitive system that give you remarkable transparency over their business, it does come with a price tag. This is why Lumary is most suitable for fast growing, profitable (and generally larger) organisations who have the budget to invest in such as system.

Summary:

We’ve all done it. Walked into a vehicle show room, seeing the car of your dreams and then seeing the price tag and cringing. If nothing else, it’s worth getting a demo and weigh up the benefits versus the cost and see if it’s a good fit.

ShiftCare

ShiftCare

Why you’ll love it

ShiftCare is far more than just NDIS, allied health and aged care software: this platform will help you with client management, rostering, compliance, invoicing and more.

Features, including updated NDIS price guides, bulk claims and NDIS funds management, will facilitate disability support, while the document management system is great for compliance. The progress notes are particularly well-designed for use on the go.

The scheduler is quick and intuitive to use, with options for group rosters, recurring rosters and client hours divided into different NDIS supports. Time and attendance and expenses can also be tracked in-app.

ShiftCare is designed with NDIS, allied healthcare professionals and aged care providers, participants and staff members in mind — and it shows. There’s also a portal for clients’ friends and family and a mobile app for workers. With the friends and family portal, you can provide different access levels for different logins. Meanwhile, the mobile app allows staff to set their availability, add progress notes and check participant documentation.

Be aware

While ShiftCare has an extensive range of features, it won’t replace your payroll software. The software records hours and shifts worked by each team member. However, it doesn’t calculate individuals’ pay. This can be tricky to do manually if staff are awarded different rates across their shifts. Fortunately, ShiftCare fully integrates with financial and payroll software such as Xero, Myob, Keypay and NDIS, so you can just connect the two programs for accurate timekeeping and payroll.

Another small point to bear in mind is that although you can upload service agreements, you cannot yet edit them in the platform (although ShiftCare tell me this feature is in the pipeline).

Summary

ShiftCare is an intuitive and comprehensive answer to client and workforce management. Its features will help providers adhere to NDIS quality standards, while scheduling becomes a simpler and more stress-free process.

What’s more, ShiftCare has plenty to offer for workers, clients and clients’ loved ones. Built-in options like a portal for friends and family will help empower clients and provide a higher quality of support.

For small to medium sized NDIS, allied health and aged care providers, ShiftCare will represent an excellent choice of care management system.

SupportAbility

SupportAbility

Why you’ll love it:

SupportAbility is a cloud-based platform specifically developed for the Australian disability sector – the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

The platform allows providers to assess participant goal progress and support the changing needs of participants over time as well as plan, monitor and report on their funding. It comes with some solid reporting tools, with in-build functionality to make sure staff are recording everything they need to and following process. Providers can also track progress and report back to the NDIS which supports evidence-based service delivery.

While SupportAbility offers all the standard administrative tools like staff rostering and client scheduling, the platform includes a unique Human Resources module to support staff professional development and promote best practice. The platform houses a good range of financial and reporting tools including full NDIS funding and budget management tools. An online learning centre means service providers are able to learn the system quite easily.

The platform houses a good range of financial and reporting tools including full NDIS funding and budget management tools. An online learning centre means service providers are able to learn the system quite easily.

Be aware:

Having a platform that’s built to support organisations operating in a specific sector is great but has obvious disadvantages for organisations who are, or intend to, diversify their services across other sectors such as Aged Care, Child Care or Employment.

SupportAbility does have some very basic lead nurturing and marketing features, however, its primary purpose is care management. In addition to this, while SupportAbility can handle care management for clients in other sectors it does not manage billing or reporting and integrations for anything other than disability services.

Summary:

SupportAbility offers a well-packaged platform, specifically designed for NDIS service providers. Amongst the list of other Care Management Systems available in Australia, SupportAbility sits (and is priced) somewhere in the middle.

The platform offers a great suite of features, designed to support evidence-based service delivery within a quality management framework. This works well for both clients (participants) and being cloud based, provides transparency for both staff and clients.

VisiCase

VisiCase

Why you’ll love it:

Visicase is one of the leading systems we’ve seen. As a cloud-based care management platform, it ticks all the boxes (plus quite a few more). What we particularly like about Visicase is the attention to smaller details with a significant emphasis on streamlining workflow and automating processes. The Platform comes with integrated rostering (including a roster optimiser), and a long list of integration interfaces so you don’t need to worry about mix-and-matching other software. It’s also supported by a powerful workflow engine that keeps track of what needs to be done and by whom.

The platform boasts a user-friendly client portal that provides access to their secure portal so they take an active part in care planning and given transparency of their plan progress, tasks and budgets.

The final big tick comes from the Platform’s adaptability. Unlike other systems, VisiCase’s Platform is not confined to a single market environment, but rather has built in multi-sector proficiency. With a growing number of businesses choosing to extend services from just disability to also include aged care, employment (and more), this is a real benefit.

New:

Business Analytics to help your executive team dig deeper into data – measure on KPI’s do resource planning, client demographics and more!

Be aware:

It’s hard to find flaws with systems as comprehensive and feature-packed as this one — but that’s exactly where it fails to address some business needs. It’s hard to ignore the point that Visicase has stormed ahead with system sophistication and automation. Where it can become difficult is in the pricing — additional modules mean more money. There can also be a significant setup fee, but this also depends on the size and complexity of your organisation.

Summary:

Visicase is an impressive, multifunctional Care Management System that offers an ‘all-in-one’ solution for your organisation. It allows streamlining of remedial tasks, optimisation of resources and greater transparency on your broader operations. VisiCase does a good job at enabling individual care planning and budgeting as well as measuring progress towards desired outcomes.

With advanced integration facilities, intuitive workflow management and customisation, it’s really an all-in-one care management system that breaks many boundaries, making it very difficult to compete with.