New Release of OnShift Staff Scheduling Software Helps Long-Term Care Providers Meet Staffing Level Regulations

CLEVELAND, April 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- OnShift today announced a new release of OnShift staff scheduling and shift management software. This release offers new staffing compliance capabilities that enable long-term care providers to more easily meet staffing level mandates and regulations, including state minimums and internal standards.

One of the most pressing challenges in long-term care is optimizing staffing levels to ensure care through compliance with staffing targets and state minimums. Providers in over 30 states are required to comply with state regulations based on staffing levels, such as California with its staffing requirement of 3.2 nursing hours per patient day (NHPPD). With growing cost control pressures, constant fluctuations in census, and residents requiring complex levels of care, providers are faced with dynamic staffing conditions that can be difficult to maintain and afford. With the new release of OnShift, providers have an automated way to track staffing levels against minimums and internal budgets, prevent infractions and monitor compliance.

New capabilities in OnShift include:

• Configurable Staffing Targets -- establish internal NHPPD budgets and state minimums for tracking and analysis.
• Predictive Analytics -- project potential staffing shortages before they happen, so organizations can take corrective action.
• Instant Alerts -- automatically notify management of potential staffing compliance risk, so appropriate action can be taken before shortages occur.
• Census Alignment -- record census information to compare against scheduled staff, identifying potential compliance gaps.
• Documentation and Audit Trail -- track all staffing activities to create thorough documentation and an audit trail.
• Automated Calculations -- automatically calculate and communicate hours required to meet staffing mandates.
• Executive Dashboards and Reports -- new enhancements provide visibility into compliance status at all times and compare scheduled staff and actuals worked with NHPPD budgets and minimums.
• Single View into Staffing -- consolidate and centralize staffing data from multiple systems, like time and attendance and clinical applications, for a single system of record in OnShift.

"Long-term care organizations across the nation are faced with growing scrutiny into their staffing levels, resulting in significant litigation and audit activity. OnShift helps providers to protect themselves and their residents by preventing shortages before they occur," stated Mark Woodka, CEO, OnShift. "While California is leading the way in enforcement of staffing regulations, this issue affects every single senior living home operating in a state with staffing minimums. Gaining control of staffing and maintaining compliance should be a top priority for everyone in long-term care. It's the only way to drive cost efficiencies, mitigate risk and deliver high quality care."

This release and its new compliance features are built upon OnShift's foundational capabilities, which include:

• Overtime Prevention -- OnShift prevents overtime before it occurs and automatically updates schedulers and management with progress towards overtime reduction goals.
• Automated Staff Scheduling -- OnShift's easy-to-use template-based scheduling automates the placement of available and qualified staff in the right shifts. OnShift's scheduling capabilities save time so staff can focus on resident care.
• Open Shift Management -- instantly communicate call-offs and open shifts to available and qualified staff through real-time text messaging, email or automated phone call, based on employee preferences.

OnShift is currently available in two versions, OnShift Enterprise Edition and OnShift Professional Edition. OnShift is delivered as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) which minimizes on-site deployment and costs.

Supporting Resources

Watch this 2-minute video to see how OnShift mitigates compliance risk

Visit the OnShift Web site for more information

About OnShift, Inc.

OnShift is a leader in web-based staff scheduling and shift management software for the healthcare industry. Long-term care providers and other healthcare organizations use OnShift to reduce labor costs by preventing overtime, mitigate compliance risk through management to PPD staffing requirements, and increase efficiencies through automated scheduling, instant call-off resolution and open shift management. With OnShift, nurses gain back valuable time to do what they do best -- provide quality care. Customers choose OnShift because of its extreme ease-of-use, fast implementation, and proven ability to deliver immediate ROI. OnShift is the first staff scheduling software with an integrated communications platform and is the only solution with proactive controls and predictive analytics that help prevent staffing issues before they occur. For more information visit www.onshift.com.

Contact
Marti Bowman
VP Marketing
OnShift, Inc.
[email protected]
216.233.7415

SOURCE OnShift, Inc.