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With Support’s Advice
The options in this group can have significant impacts on how the system assigns rates and calculates billing and payroll for your Schedules. Make sure you understand the implications of changing these settings before proceeding. We recommend that you contact HomeTrak Support for assistance.
Rate Type | Rate Types determine how a Rate is utilized during calculation. When you add a Rate Package or a Billing/Payroll Rate, you select the applicable Rate Type. There are 5 standard Rate Types already configured: Hourly, Monthly, Per 12 Hour Live In, Per 24 Hour Live In and Per Visit.
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Shift | Do you bill or pay different rates depending on the day (e.g. weekday or weekend) or time of day? If so, set up separate shifts here. Bill and Pay rates can be given different values for different Shifts.
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Rate Package | Rate Packages are used on Authorizations to determine which Rate Types to use for calculating Billing and Payroll for the Schedule(s). For each Rate Package, you have the option to define a standard range of hours. If a Schedule is created based on this Rate Package has a length that is outside the standard hours of the Rate Package, the system will generate a warning on the Schedule. | ||
Warnings and Errors | This list represents the various Warnings and Errors that can appear on Schedules in Companion. Although you cannot add or remove anything from this list, or change the name or meaning of any warning, you can customize the importance of each warning. You can configure any warning on a schedule to do any of the following:
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Form 485
The following lists are related to fields on US Medicaid Form 485 Home Health Plan of Care. (If you do not use Form 485, or choose to prepare this information outside of Companion, you do not need to review these lists.)
These lists represent pre-defined items that may be selected in several of the fields on Form 485:
Allergies
DME and Supply (Durable Medical Equipment)
Nutritional Requirements
Safety Measures
ICD-9 Category – The list of ICD-9 diagnosis codes are found under Home/Health Evaluation in the Recommended tab.
Medicine
Frequency/Route
All Status
This section contains the lists of Statuses that may be applied to different categories of people in the system. These lists are sufficient for most offices. However, if you wish to use more detailed statuses, you can add to the list of Statuses here. Each type of person has its own independent list of statuses.
Each status has a type, which gives it its meaning to the system. There are six basic types of statuses: Potential, Assessed, Active, Inactive, Archived and Deceased. These types are not configurable. Additional Statuses of the same type may be added to help distinguish between the different Statuses you may wish to track.
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| EXAMPLE: For Caregivers, there are Inactive Statuses such as Quit, Terminated, Do Not Hire, On Leave, etc. The system considers all of these Statuses as Inactive, but by differentiating between them, it becomes easy for users to see why the Caregiver is Inactive. |
Only Caregivers and Clients with a current Active status may be put into Schedules and/or Authorizations.
Statuses are applied to these categories of people:
Client
Caregiver
Office Staff
Contact
Payer
Organization
Emergency Contact
Individual
Database Snapshot
Run a manual database snapshot to back up Companion. The Maintenance Service does a nightly snapshot at midnight, but you can manually create a snapshot at any time using this tool. You can also define a path here to which a copy of the snapshot file will be saved. (By default, snapshot files are saved to the location of the Companion databases.) This path must be on the database server machine.
If you need to restore your database from a snapshot, please contact HomeTrak Support.
Support Tools
The items in this section should be used only with the advice of HomeTrak Support.
Import City Data | HomeTrak Companion contains a database of U.S. city and ZIP code information, used to populate your City and ZIP Code lists with ZIP Codes for your area. |
Import Pictures | This is a utility tool for users migrating from HomeTrak v7.1 to Companion to import Client and Caregiver images into Companion by selecting the location of the image files. The filename of the image must match the code of the person to which it will be imported. |
Connectivity Test | A tool to help evaluate the speed and reliability of the connection to the database from this workstation. |
Delete all ICD9 Codes | If you do not use the ICD9 diagnosis codes, you can remove them from your list using this tool. CAUTION: Be absolutely sure that you will not use any of these codes before removing them. The ICD9 codes are listed under ICD Codes tab. |
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Care Plan | |
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Home/Health Evaluation | Maintain the list of Home/Health Evaluation items that can be added to Clients in Companion. For example, you may wish to record the allergies, conditions or dietary requirements of a Client. |
Duties to Perform | It is important to have a plan for what your company will do to care for each Client. This plan of care will largely depend on the services a Client is authorized to receive. Care Plan Duties are the specific tasks that Caregivers should perform when working with a Client. Some Care Plan Duties may be Informational Only, representing important information about the Client that does not detail a specific task to be performed, but may still affect the Caregiver’s duties. Duties can be added directly to a Client's profile. Care Plan duties added to a Client indicate duties that any Caregiver should perform for the Client, regardless of the type of work. You can indicate how often the tasks should be performed. Duties can also be added to a Client Authorization, where they represent specific tasks to be performed for Schedules based on this Authorization. |
Medicine | Maintain a list of common medications to attach to the Client. |
ICD Codes | ICD Codes are standard diagnosis codes that succinctly capture specific information about a client’s conditions and medical diagnoses. The two current standards are ICD-9 and ICD-10, with ICD-10 slated to replace ICD-9. Here you can set up your list of your commonly used ICD codes. If the category of a selected item is ICD-9, the detail panel on the right hand side of the screen will show a web tool that will attempt to provide an equivalent ICD-10 code for the selected ICD-9 code. This will allow you to convert your current ICD-9 codes to ICD-10. |
Task Sets | Task Sets are used with Telephony to group together related Care Plan Items that are meant to be performed together. If your Caregivers use Telephony to enter tasks performed, using Task Sets allows Caregivers to enter a single code to represent multiple tasks performed. If your Telephony options are not configured for Caregivers to enter task codes, then you do not need to set up Task Sets. |
Scheduling | |
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Qualification | Use Qualifications as a way to indicate your Caregivers’ disciplines, or what types of service they are qualified to perform. When adding a new Caregiver into the system, you will select their Qualifications from this list. Caregivers may have multiple Qualifications. Qualifications are used by the system when matching Caregivers to a Schedule for a particular Client. When creating your Call Type master list, you should assign a Qualification to each Call Type. A Caregiver must have the Qualification that is assigned to the Call Type in order to provide the authorized care. A Caregiver who does not have the Qualification required by the Call Type will not be saved to any Schedule created with that Call Type. Also, the Caregiver Suggestion tool will not show Caregivers who do not have the qualification required by the Call Type on the Schedule. |
Call Type (Services) | Call Types represent the different types of services your company offers. They are a crucial component of HomeTrak Companion, tying much of the system together. Call Types are used in the following areas:
As you can see, properly configuring the master list of Call Types is critical for a variety of reasons. A Billing Rate must have a Call Type specified. An Authorization requires a valid Billing Rate. A Schedule is created from a valid Authorization. The Call Type can dictate how much to pay a Caregiver and bill a Payer, if Call Type-specific Rates have been set up. |
Profile
Language | Create the list of Languages that are spoken by your Clients and Caregivers. When adding a new person or organization into the system, select the Language(s) they can speak. Knowing the languages a person can speak is essential when pairing up a Caregiver with a Client. The list of Languages from which to select may differ from company to company. | ||||
Classifications | Classifications provide additional ways to filter and group people in your system. A person can be assigned only one category, but they may have an unlimited number of Classifications attached. Classifications can be used to filter the list of people in the Find Area on the left-hand side of all modules in HomeTrak Companion. You can also filter on a Classification in the Caregiver Suggestion filter options. If you are a Telephony user, Schedule Alert Messages can be set up to be sent only for Clients with a specific Classification. | ||||
Title | Maintain the list of potential Titles that you can use for people in the program (for example, Mr., Ms., Dr., Sir, etc.). A Title can be selected when editing a person’s profile in Companion.
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Name Suffix | Maintain the list of potential Name Suffixes. A Name appears after a person’s name (for example, Jr., Sr., PhD., MD, etc.). A suffix can be selected when editing a person’s profile in Companion.
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Location
This group contains information required for entering address information.
City | Pre-establish your master list of Cities serviced by your office. This list is automatically populated with the Cities you enter while adding people and organizations to the system. | ||
State | Pre-establish your master list of States (or provinces or regions) here. You may include any or all States in your list. This list is automatically populated with the States you enter while adding people and organizations to the system. | ||
ZIP Code | The list of Zip Codes or postal codes for addresses in your system. Every time you enter a new Zip Code or postal code to a profile, it is added to this list. Zip codes and postal codes are tied to cities. Entering a Zip Code or postal code further sorts an address into a specific mail delivery area. | ||
District | Pre-establish your master list of Districts here. If your company services a large territory, it may not be feasible to schedule a Caregiver from one end of your service area to care for a Client located at the other end. Districts are used to divide your service area into sections, such as Central, North, East, South and West). The list of Districts may differ from company to company. Some companies may decide to define Districts by County, City or ZIP Code. In addition to indicating the District a person lives in, you can specify on a Caregiver’s profile the District(s) they prefer to work, which is used in Caregiver Suggestion when matching a Caregiver to a Schedule. | ||
Country | Pre-establish your master list of Countries here. When you install the software you will select the Country for your office, and the system will automatically populate that Country in this list. If you enter additional data that requires identification of another Country, make sure the Country is added to this list so you can select it. | ||
Address Category | Define categories for Addresses added to people in your system. People or organizations will often have a secondary address in addition to their primary address. The secondary address should be recorded in your system to guarantee optimum communication.
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Structure | (Optional) You can select the appropriate type of Structure descriptor for an address you add to a person’s or organization's profile. |
Documentation
This group contains other categories of information that can be added to most profiles in the system.
Documented Event Categories | Define categories that describe the types of Documented Events in your system. Use Documented Events to record outstanding performance as well as complaints or problems with a Client or Caregiver. Create Documented Event categories that make sense for your company, such as Client Complaint, Caregiver Arrived Late, Job Well Done, etc.
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Required Date | Add Required Dates, such as training courses and evaluations, for clients and caregivers.
The list of categories you define here will represent the different types of requirements your company tracks, their importance, and how or whether they expire. Required Dates can be specified as Mandatory or Optional. If a Caregiver has an incomplete or expired Mandatory required date on their profile, you will receive warnings if you try to schedule that caregiver. There are three types of Required Date categories:
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Extra Information | Define categories that indicate the type of Extra Information records that you wish to add to a person’s profile. You can add Extra Information to a client’s or caregiver’s profile, in addition to the existing fields and features provided. | ||||
Popup Alert | Create categories for Pop-up Alerts. Pop-up alerts appear in the bottom right corner of the screen when opening a person or organization's profile. These alerts may serve as important reminders or warnings about the person or organization. | ||||
Referral Categories | A referral is a person or organization who advised someone to use the services of your company. You can add Referral Sources to both client and caregiver profiles. Create your list of Referral categories here. Categorize your Referrals according to any criteria that make sense for your company: Rehab Facility, Doctor, Hospital, etc. | ||||
Skill | Recording the skills of Office Staff, Caregivers and Clients can be very important for scheduling. Each office person has a set of skills they bring to your company. Each Caregiver has a set of Skills that helps them to care for a Client. Likewise, each Client needs service from a Caregiver who has certain Skills. Skills added to a Client’s profile represent the Skills that a Caregiver is required to possess in order to work with this Client. The Skills that a Caregiver or Office Staff person has, and those needed by a Client or specific Authorization, have great impact on the scheduling process. While the Qualification represents the type of service a Caregiver is able to perform, each Client and Authorization may have unique requirements. These requirements are fulfilled by matching specific Caregiver Skills to those required by a Client. There are two types of Skills you can add to the profile of a Client, Caregiver, or Office Staff person: Critical Skills and Regular Skills. Critical Skills are Skills that a Caregiver must have in order to work a Schedule requiring those Skills. Critical Skills are used by the Caregiver Suggestion tool to filter out Caregivers who do not meet the requirements to work with a particular client. You cannot save a Caregiver to a Schedule unless they possess all of the Critical Skills required by the Client and/or Authorization. Regular Skills are less important, but still desired to work with the Client. The percentage of Regular Skills matching between a Client and Caregiver is seen in the Caregiver Suggestion form. Missing Regular Skills does not prevent a Caregiver from being scheduled. Skills required by a Client may be Client-Specific or Authorization-Specific. Client-Specific Skills are added directly to the Client. These Skills are always needed by the Client, no matter what service is being performed. Authorization-Specific Skills are added directly to an Authorization. Add these skills only if you have multiple Authorizations for different types of services for a Client, and different Skills are needed for each service. Authorization-specific Skills do not override the Skills needed by the Client. Rather, the Authorization-specific Skills are added to those already needed by the Client when matching Caregivers to a Schedule. | ||||
Additional Image | Define categories for the Additional Images you add to profiles in Companion. The additional images section allows you to add and view images right in the software.
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External Types | Define the categories for External Information linked to profiles in Companion. External Information items represent links to files and folders outside of Companion.
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Scheduling
This group contains event categories and other items related to scheduling and events.
Appointment Categories | Define categories to indicate the types of Appointments in your system, such as Meeting, Assessment Visit, etc. An appointment books time on the calendars of all those involved. The system will alert you to schedule conflicts if an Appointment is scheduled during the same time period as another calendar item.
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Task Categories | Define categories that indicate the types of Tasks in your system. A task serves as a reminder to complete a certain job. Although Tasks appear on the calendars of those involved, they do not book a block of time. Therefore, the system will not alert you to schedule conflicts if a Task is scheduled during the same time period as another calendar item. If you wish to book a block of time on the calendar, you must add an Appointment, not a Task. | ||
Schedule Attributes | Attributes can be added to Schedules to indicate important information about a Schedule.
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Event Reminders | Use Event notices to send reminder notices via SMS text to the Caregiver's cell phone in advance of events involving that person. Event notices may be configured to send a set amount of time before or after the beginning or end of an event, and may be set to send for specific categories of Tasks or Appointments, or Schedules. Specific Schedule Call Types may be excluded from Alerting and Notices by editing the Call Type in the Agency Office Module.
(Cloud users only.) | ||
Schedule Length | Use this option to specify the Schedule Length Caregivers are willing to work. Each option specifies a range with a minimum and maximum number of hours. This is used in the Caregiver Suggestion tool to find Caregivers whose Schedule Length preferences match the actual length of the schedule being filled. (If the Caregiver does not have a Schedule Length preference, the program assumes they are willing to work any length of Schedule.) A Caregiver who does not match a Schedule Length preference is not prevented from being scheduled—this tool is used only when suggesting appropriate Caregivers for a Schedule. | ||
Alert Messages | Customize the message text and details that are included in the alert messages sent out by the Companion telephony service when a caregiver has not arrived for a schedule. Determining which messages are sent and when they are sent out is configured under Schedule Alerting in the Agency Office Module. | ||
Reminder Messages | Customize the message text of the status messages that are periodically sent out by the Companion telephony service to indicate normal operation. Determining which messages are sent and their frequency is configured under Schedule Alerting in the Agency Office Module. |
Relationship Categories
These are the different types of people and organizations you can enter into Companion. The categories describe the relationship between your office and these people, or between two different people. Since each person or relationship can only have one category applied to it, these categories should be your primary way of grouping them.
Caregiver | The Caregiver category allows you to create a list that defines how your business chooses to categorize your caregivers. This category should be the primary way that you group or organize your Caregivers. Since each Caregiver can have only one category, you may choose to organize them by their type of employment (for example, Contract, Hourly, Full-time, Casual), or the type of work they do (for example, Nursing Staff, Cleaners, Care Providers, etc.). You should choose categories based on the best way to organize your Caregivers. |
Client | The Client Category allows you to create a list that defines how your business chooses to categorize your clients. This category should be the primary way that you group or organize your clients. Since each Client can have only one category, you should choose categories based on the best way to organize your Clients (for example, Private, Insurance, VA, etc.). |
Emergency Contact | HomeTrak Companion allows you to connect an unlimited number of Emergency Contacts to each Client, Caregiver, and Office Staff person in your system. This ensures that your company can get in contact with someone in a timely manner if there is an emergency. Pre-establish your list of Emergency Contact categories here. You may choose to categorize your emergency contacts according to any criteria you wish. For example, you may use the category to indicate primary and secondary contacts, or you may prefer to have the category reflect the relationship to the Client or Caregiver (for example, Son, Daughter, etc.). |
Compatibility | Matching a caregiver to a client must be done carefully in order to keep both your clients and caregivers happy. The Caregiver Compatibility feature allows you to identify specific caregivers that a client likes or dislikes. The pre-defined list includes the categories Preferred and Not Preferred. You may edit or add to this list if desired. |
Individual | Connect Individuals (doctors, lawyers, relatives etc.) to specific contacts, clients, caregivers, and office people. You may assign a category to an Individual to describe the relationship of the Individual to the Client or Caregiver to whom they are attached (for example, Mother, Psychiatrist and Friend). |
Manager | HomeTrak Companion allows you to connect managers (who have profiles in the Office Staff Module) to the specific Contacts, Clients, and Caregivers they're managing. Documenting who a person or organization is managed by is an important part of sorting. The Manager category represents the relationship between the Manager and the Client or Caregiver. You may have categories such as Field Supervisor, Scheduler, HR Manager, etc. |
Organization | The Organization Category allows you to create a list that defines how your business chooses to categorize organizations with which your company has a relationship. You may choose to have categories that reflect the type of business (for example: Doctor’s Office, Hospital, Religious Organization, Advertising Agency, etc.). |
Contact | Contacts are individuals with a relationship to your office who are not clients or caregivers. The Contact Category allows you to create a list that defines how your business chooses to categorize your external contacts. |
Office Staff | Define how your business chooses to categorize your office caregivers. You may wish to have these categories reflect the position that your office staff occupy (for example, Office Manager, Scheduler, Receptionist, etc.). |
Payer | The Payer Category allows you to create a list that defines how your business chooses to group your non-private payers. (A private payer is a client who pays their own bills. A non-private payer is an insurance company or other third party paying for the service.) Non-private payers are added in the Payer Module, where data such as contact information, billing options and rates are managed. |
Office | This category is only applicable if you will be using HomeTrak Companion for more than one company or for your company's multiple offices. In this case, you will first need to purchase an additional license for HomeTrak Companion. Then you can add additional Offices and their default information in the Agency Office Module. |
Payroll and Billing
This group contains important categories related to billing and payroll.
Holiday | Set up the names of the holidays that your company observes. The Holiday categories created here will be available to select when adding the dates of office-specific holidays and setting up their pay and bill factors in the Agency Office Module. |
Expense Description | This list contains various descriptions for Expenses. An Expense Description can be applied to Expense Extra Charges and appears on Invoices and Billing and Payroll reports. |
Extra Charge | This list defines the types of extra charges in Companion. You cannot add to this list but if you integrate with QuickBooks, you can edit these items to link them to service items in QuickBooks. |
Invoice Promotion | The Invoice Promotion is optional text that appears at the bottom of the Invoice. A promotion from this list can be selected in a Payer’s Billing Options. |
Invoice Term | The Invoice Term indicates when payment is due. The terms from this list are selected in a Payer’s Billing Options and appear on Invoices. |
Pay Stub | The Pay Stub Information is optional text that appears at the bottom of the pay stub report (Summary by Caregiver Payroll report). Items from this list are selected in a Caregiver’s Payroll Options. |
Rounding Type | You can configure how Schedule hours are rounded, if you bill or pay based on rounded hours. You will specify which rounding option to use for each Payer or Caregiver in their Billing or Payroll Options. |
Tax Type | If you are required to charge state or federal taxes on your services, your list of Tax Types and rates are set here. The Tax Type(s) must also be attached to Call Types in the Agency Office Module in order to be applied. This allows you to specify which services are taxed and which are tax-free. The taxes will be applied when calculating Billing and included in the Invoice totals. |
Reporting
Mail Merge Letter | Define the body contents of various letter forms to use with the Mail Merge Report (in the Printed Reports Module) to create individually addressed letters to Caregivers, Clients or Contacts. The Mail Merge body should be designed to fit on one page. |
Page Layout | This list represents the various page layouts used by Companion’s Reporting features. While you cannot add or remove items from the list, you may edit layouts in order to adjust margins. |
Watermark | Define different watermarks that can be chosen when running reports. If you select a watermark when you run a report, the watermark image appears behind the report contents. |
Care Plan Items | |||
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Home/Health Evaluation | Maintain the list of Home/Health Evaluation items that can be added to Clients in Companion. For example, you may wish to record the allergies, conditions or dietary requirements of a Client. | ||
Duties to Perform | It is important to have a plan for what your company will do to care for each Client. This plan of care will largely depend on the services a Client is authorized to receive. Care Plan Duties are the specific tasks that Caregivers should perform when working with a Client. Some Care Plan Duties may be Informational Only, representing important information about the Client that does not detail a specific task to be performed, but may still affect the Caregiver’s duties. Duties can be added directly to a Client's profile. Care Plan duties added to a Client indicate duties that any Caregiver should perform for the Client, regardless of the type of work. You can indicate how often the tasks should be performed. Duties can also be added to a Client Authorization, where they represent specific tasks to be performed for Schedules based on this Authorization. | ||
Characteristics | Maintain a list of personal Characteristic items that you can add to Clients and Caregivers. When you add a new person into the system, you can choose their Characteristics (i.e. personality traits, likes and dislikes, etc.) from this list. | ||
Medicine | Maintain a list of common medications to attach to the Client.
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ICD Codes | ICD Codes are standard diagnosis codes that succinctly capture specific information about a client’s conditions and medical diagnoses. The two current standards are ICD-9 and ICD-10, with ICD-10 slated to replace ICD-9. Here you can set up your list of your commonly used ICD codes. If the category of a selected item is ICD-9, the detail panel on the right hand side of the screen will show a web tool that will attempt to provide an equivalent ICD-10 code for the selected ICD-9 code. This will allow you to convert your current ICD-9 codes to ICD-10. | ||
Task Sets | Task Sets are used with Telephony to group together related Care Plan Items that are meant to be performed together. If your Caregivers use Telephony to enter tasks performed, using Task Sets allows Caregivers to enter a single code to represent multiple tasks performed. If your Telephony options are not configured for Caregivers to enter task codes, then you do not need to set up Task Sets. | ||
Appointment Categories | Define categories to indicate the types of Appointments in your system, such as Meeting, Assessment Visit, etc. An appointment books time on the calendars of all those involved. The system will alert you to schedule conflicts if an Appointment is scheduled during the same time period as another calendar item.
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Categories | Define categories that indicate the types of Tasks in your system. A task serves as a reminder to complete a certain job. Although Tasks appear on the calendars of those involved, they do not book a block of time. Therefore, the system will not alert you to schedule conflicts if a Task is scheduled during the same time period as another calendar item. If you wish to book a block of time on the calendar, you must add an Appointment, not a Task. | ||
Schedule Attributes | Attributes can be added to Schedules to indicate important information about a Schedule.
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Event Reminders | Use Event notices to send reminder notices via SMS text to the Caregiver's cell phone in advance of events involving that person. Event notices may be configured to send a set amount of time before or after the beginning or end of an event, and may be set to send for specific categories of Tasks or Appointments, or Schedules. Specific Schedule Call Types may be excluded from Alerting and Notices by editing the Call Type in the Agency Office Module.
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Schedule Length | Use this option to specify the Schedule Length Caregivers are willing to work. Each option specifies a range with a minimum and maximum number of hours. This is used in the Caregiver Suggestion tool to find Caregivers whose Schedule Length preferences match the actual length of the schedule being filled. (If the Caregiver does not have a Schedule Length preference, the program assumes they are willing to work any length of Schedule.) A Caregiver who does not match a Schedule Length preference is not prevented from being scheduled—this tool is used only when suggesting appropriate Caregivers for a Schedule. | ||
Break Categories | Set up the categories for different types of schedule Breaks. For more detailed information on this setup, see the document Configuring Breaks. | ||
Alert Messages | Customize the message text and details that are included in the alert messages sent out by the Companion telephony service when a caregiver has not arrived for a schedule. Determining which messages are sent and when they are sent out is configured under Schedule Alerting in the Agency Office Module. | ||
Reminder Messages | Customize the message text of the status messages that are periodically sent out by the Companion telephony service to indicate normal operation. Determining which messages are sent and their frequency is configured under Schedule Alerting in the Agency Office Module. |
Documentation | |||||
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Documented Event Categories | Define categories that describe the types of Documented Events in your system. Use Documented Events to record outstanding performance as well as complaints or problems with a Client or Caregiver. Create Documented Event categories that make sense for your company, such as Client Complaint, Caregiver Arrived Late, Job Well Done, etc.
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Required Date | Add Required Dates, such as training courses and evaluations, for clients and caregivers.
The list of categories you define here will represent the different types of requirements your company tracks, their importance, and how or whether they expire. Required Dates can be specified as Mandatory or Optional. If a Caregiver has an incomplete or expired Mandatory required date on their profile, you will receive warnings if you try to schedule that caregiver. There are three types of Required Date categories:
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Extra Information | Define categories that indicate the type of Extra Information records that you wish to add to a person’s profile. You can add Extra Information to a client’s or caregiver’s profile, in addition to the existing fields and features provided. | ||||
Popup Alert | Create categories for Pop-up Alerts. Pop-up alerts appear in the bottom right corner of the screen when opening a person or organization's profile. These alerts may serve as important reminders or warnings about the person or organization. | ||||
Referral Categories | A referral is a person or organization who advised someone to use the services of your company. You can add Referral Sources to both client and caregiver profiles. Create your list of Referral categories here. Categorize your Referrals according to any criteria that make sense for your company: Rehab Facility, Doctor, Hospital, etc. | ||||
Skill | Recording the skills of Office Staff, Caregivers and Clients can be very important for scheduling. Each office person has a set of skills they bring to your company. Each Caregiver has a set of Skills that helps them to care for a Client. Likewise, each Client needs service from a Caregiver who has certain Skills. Skills added to a Client’s profile represent the Skills that a Caregiver is required to possess in order to work with this Client. The Skills that a Caregiver or Office Staff person has, and those needed by a Client or specific Authorization, have great impact on the scheduling process. While the Qualification represents the type of service a Caregiver is able to perform, each Client and Authorization may have unique requirements. These requirements are fulfilled by matching specific Caregiver Skills to those required by a Client. There are two types of Skills you can add to the profile of a Client, Caregiver, or Office Staff person: Critical Skills and Regular Skills. Critical Skills are Skills that a Caregiver must have in order to work a Schedule requiring those Skills. Critical Skills are used by the Caregiver Suggestion tool to filter out Caregivers who do not meet the requirements to work with a particular client. You cannot save a Caregiver to a Schedule unless they possess all of the Critical Skills required by the Client and/or Authorization. Regular Skills are less important, but still desired to work with the Client. The percentage of Regular Skills matching between a Client and Caregiver is seen in the Caregiver Suggestion form. Missing Regular Skills does not prevent a Caregiver from being scheduled. Skills required by a Client may be Client-Specific or Authorization-Specific. Client-Specific Skills are added directly to the Client. These Skills are always needed by the Client, no matter what service is being performed. Authorization-Specific Skills are added directly to an Authorization. Add these skills only if you have multiple Authorizations for different types of services for a Client, and different Skills are needed for each service. Authorization-specific Skills do not override the Skills needed by the Client. Rather, the Authorization-specific Skills are added to those already needed by the Client when matching Caregivers to a Schedule. | ||||
Additional Image | Define categories for the Additional Images you add to profiles in Companion. The additional images section allows you to add and view images right in the software.
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External Types | Define the categories for External Information linked to profiles in Companion. External Information items represent links to files and folders outside of Companion.
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Incident | Incidents may be used to track formal warnings or disciplinary actions taken with your employees. Incidents are similar to Documented Events, but due to the potentially sensitive nature of the contents, Incidents are only accessible within the Human Resources Module. Maintain your list of Incident categories and types here. | ||||
Custom Forms | Master list of Questions to use on Client and Caregiver web application forms. For detailed configuration information, see the document Configuring Custom Forms Questions. | ||||
Interview Questions | The Interview feature in the Relationships Management Module allows you to record Client or Caregiver assessment information. How to Configure Interview Questions | ||||
Plan of Treatment | |
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Medicine | Master list of Medicines. |
Allergies | Master list of Allergies. |
DME and Supply | Master list of DME and Supply for the Plan of Treatment/Form 485. |
Nutritional Requirements | Master list of Nutritional Requirements for the Plan of Treatment/Form 485. |
Safety Measures | Master list of Safety Measures for the Plan of Treatment/Form 485. |
Frequency/Route | Master list of Frequency/Route options for Medications. |
Reporting | |
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Mail Merge Letter | Define the body contents of various letter forms to use with the Mail Merge Report (in the Printed Reports Module) to create individually addressed letters to Caregivers, Clients or Contacts. The Mail Merge body should be designed to fit on one page. |
Page Layout | This list represents the various page layouts used by Companion’s Reporting features. While you cannot add or remove items from the list, you may edit layouts in order to adjust margins. |
Watermark | Define different watermarks that can be chosen when running reports. If you select a watermark when you run a report, the watermark image appears behind the report contents. |
Password | Password options for protecting generated PDF reports for emailing. For more details, see the document Password Protect a Report. |
Payroll and Billing | |
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Holiday | Set up the names of the holidays that your company observes. The Holiday categories created here will be available to select when adding the dates of office-specific holidays and setting up their pay and bill factors in the Agency Office Module. |
Expense Description | This list contains various descriptions for Expenses. An Expense Description can be applied to Expense Extra Charges and appears on Invoices and Billing and Payroll reports. |
Extra Charge | This list defines the types of extra charges in Companion. You cannot add to this list but if you integrate with QuickBooks, you can edit these items to link them to service items in QuickBooks. |
Invoice Promotion | The Invoice Promotion is optional text that appears at the bottom of the Invoice. A promotion from this list can be selected in a Payer’s Billing Options. |
Invoice Term | The Invoice Term indicates when payment is due. The terms from this list are selected in a Payer’s Billing Options and appear on Invoices. |
Pay Stub | The Pay Stub Information is optional text that appears at the bottom of the pay stub report (Summary by Caregiver Payroll report). Items from this list are selected in a Caregiver’s Payroll Options. |
Rounding Type | You can configure how Schedule hours are rounded, if you bill or pay based on rounded hours. You will specify which rounding option to use for each Payer or Caregiver in their Billing or Payroll Options. |
Tax Type | If you are required to charge state or federal taxes on your services, your list of Tax Types and rates are set here. The Tax Type(s) must also be attached to Call Types in the Agency Office Module in order to be applied. This allows you to specify which services are taxed and which are tax-free. The taxes will be applied when calculating Billing and included in the Invoice totals. |
With Support's Advice | |||
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Rate Type | Rate Types determine how a Rate is utilized during calculation. When you add a Rate Package or a Billing/Payroll Rate, you select the applicable Rate Type. There are 5 standard Rate Types already configured: Hourly, Monthly, Per 12 Hour Live In, Per 24 Hour Live In and Per Visit.
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Shift | Do you bill or pay different rates depending on the day (e.g. weekday or weekend) or time of day? If so, set up separate shifts here. Bill and Pay rates can be given different values for different Shifts.
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Rate Package | Rate Packages are used on Authorizations to determine which Rate Types to use for calculating Billing and Payroll for the Schedule(s). For each Rate Package, you have the option to define a standard range of hours. If a Schedule is created based on this Rate Package has a length that is outside the standard hours of the Rate Package, the system will generate a warning on the Schedule. | ||
Warnings and Errors | This list represents the various Warnings and Errors that can appear on Schedules in Companion. Although you cannot add or remove anything from this list, or change the name or meaning of any warning, you can customize the importance of each warning. You can configure any warning on a schedule to do any of the following:
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Security Level | Set up various security roles for your office staff users, to control their access to different areas of the program. Companion comes with several standard roles already configured. Security roles can be selected when editing or setting up users in the Agency Office Module, or when adding a new Office Staff person.
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Email Server | Setup your SMTP email server information. To send emails from HomeTrak Companion, your email server connection information must be properly configured here. | ||
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Dictionary | You can add additional words into HomeTrak Companion’s dictionary for use with the Spell Check feature on text boxes within the program. |