In WelcomeHome, you may have the ability to sync your prospects to an Electronic Medical Record, or EMR for short. An EMR is a billing system and can be used to access information related to your prospect's residency. This includes Admissions, Transfers and Discharged (ADTs) that will update as individuals move throughout your community.
Once synced, WelcomeHome will consider your EMR the "source of truth". This means it will update information to match the EMR during its scheduled sync, which will always occur daily. This also means that if you make a change in WelcomeHome and do not update your EMR to reflect that, WelcomeHome will revert those changes back to match the EMR.
When you integrate your EMR with WelcomeHome, information can be shared between the two. With some, this flow of information will be bi-directional, meaning both systems will send information back and forth to each other. Other EMRs will be one-way, meaning either the EMR will send information to WelcomeHome or WelcomeHome will send information out to the EMR. The nature of how information will be shared varies and will be discussed during the onboarding.
Communication & Syncing with an EMR
You'll need to sync individuals to initiate this flow of information. It's important to note that you can sync only once, so best practice is to wait to sync until the individual is fully ready to join your community and you have all their move-in information confirmed (move-in date, unit, deposit, etc.).
If you have the ability to sync to an EMR, you'll see a "Sync to ___" button appear at the top of the prospect profile in blue. If you see it greyed out, hover over the button to see what information is required to sync. It's important to note that if you see verbiage that mentions including information for both residents, that really means to make sure that anyone on the profile has the required information filled in. So if a home phone number is needed for both residents but there is only one person on the profile, make sure that person has a number entered in the home phone number field in order to sync.
Finding Someone
When an individual is synced, they will be given a code or ID in the EMR that WelcomeHome will use to track changes. It is important that you make all changes to the resident ID/code that matches the one in WelcomeHome so that all updates are captured during the scheduled sync. Some EMRs do allow us to change the codes out if another profile is made in the EMR, but most will use the original code set up during the initial sync.
Once a sync occurs, a profile will be created in your EMR for you to make future changes to as people move throughout your community via transfers, change in care levels, etc. Where you find these individuals will vary with each EMR, but you can find this information below in our EMR-specific articles.
Again, it's important to remember once an individual is synced and a resident ID is generated for them, you want to make all changes in the EMR on the profile that matches that resident ID. If you create another profile for that individual in the EMR and track changes on that one rather than the profile that is synced with WelcomeHome, that individual will be pushed over to the Resolution Center as an unmatched resident because the IDs will be different. Working on the synced profile will prevent duplicates and help keep your data clean.
In the resident profile, you may see an EMR ADTs tab that will show all the changes that have been pushed over from the EMR. This is a great place to check that all your updates match what's showing in the EMR and to catch any incorrect unit information that needs to be updated.
Making Changes
After an individual has been synced to your EMR, all changes need to be made in the EMR. The EMR becomes the "source of truth" meaning WelcomeHome will default to match that during the scheduled syncs. If you make a change in WelcomeHome that does not match the EMR, those changes will revert back to reflect what's in the EMR. Best practice is once an individual is synced, use your EMR to make any updates for unit changes, move-outs, deposit information, etc. and allow that information to sync with WelcomeHome. Syncs typically occur on a nightly basis, so when you make the change in your EMR, you won't immediately see that reflected in WelcomeHome.
If you see a discrepancy between your EMR's census and WelcomeHome, it's best practice to go through your occupancy in WelcomeHome and your EMR to find out where the differences are. You can then reach out to Support so we can assist with making any necessary changes. Sending us a list of changes needed for the specific units will allow our team to quickly make those updates and ensure WelcomeHome matches your census.
Below, you'll find specific articles related to the EMR your operator may use with WelcomeHome: