AI-based tools and other technologies have flooded the home care industry, but choosing the wrong one can mean the difference between streamlined operations and a costly, disruptive mismatch.

Determining whether a vendor can deliver good business results means piloting tools before wide deployment, scrutinizing contract terms, asking pointed, evidence-based questions about efficacy and assessing whether it is better to build the technology in-house, industry leaders told Home Health Care News.

“If we don’t ask the right questions from our end to the vendor, or if the vendor doesn’t ask the right questions from their end in terms of presenting a potential solution, then really there’s a lot of opportunity for that potential mismatch,” Anthony Rodriguez, marketing and brand manager at Solenvia, told HHCN.

Before working with a vendor, Rodriguez first determines what Solenvia’s current operational needs are, rather than considering which vendors he wants to work with.

“It most often starts with the operational problem that we’re trying to solve or gaps in our current workflows or processes that could benefit from additional technology software,” Rodriguez said.

Middletown, Connecticut-based Solenvia provides non-medical home care across Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Determining whether a vendor’s technology truly provides solutions to the company’s problem is something Shadi Gholizadeh, chief quality and innovation officer at TheKey, echoed.

“There can be overload a lot of times of people coming in to show us their solutions, and so we really look at like number one: is this even a real problem to solve?” Gholizadeh asked.

Based in Delray Beach, Florida, TheKey provides in-home care, respite care, Alzheimer’s and dementia care, skilled nursing and other services across 32 states.

Certain technology solutions become very “hot,” such as caregiver matching tools, ambient AI or remote patient monitoring, Gholizadeh said. However, she emphasizes whether a vendor’s solution answers a problem TheKey may have.

In addition to assessing operational needs before working with vendors, Honor CEO Seth Sternberg asks what the desired business outcome is.

“You’re not usually looking for technology,” Sternberg said. “You’re usually looking for a business outcome.”

With that ultimate business outcome in mind, Honor will then determine whether they will build the technology in-house or buy it from a vendor, Sternberg said, as the company has done both.

San Francisco-based Honor is a home care technology company. It acquired home care provider Home Instead in 2021.  

After identifying the desired business outcome, Honor determines which features are needed to solve the problem and aligns expectations with what actually exists in the market. If a tool with all desired features does not exist, leadership must determine if they will further compromise on the features or build the technology itself.

The role of the demo

After determining the problem that needs solving, Rodriguez requests a demo from the vendors he is considering working with. If a vendor will not provide one, he views that as a cause for concern. It could mean the solution is not adaptable to Solenvia’s specific use cases or needs, Rodriguez said.

Demos are especially critical when the barrier to entry for developing a new technological tool is low, Gholizadeh said.

“You have a lot of people coming to market with a very early idea. That’s fine to test it out. But we need credible evidence that it works beyond just testimonials,” Gholizadeh said. “I want to test it out. If you’re telling me you have a voice AI agent, I’m going to test it out with every possible use case. I’m not going to just take your word for it. Tell me what outcomes have improved. Tell me what the population was that you used.”

During the demo process, it is essential for providers to pay careful attention to any errors that occur. Errors can have tremendous impacts on varying scales, Sternbeg said.

“The result can be everything from ‘Oh, that was inconvenient’ to ‘That’s a disaster for my customers’ and a massive legal liability,” he said.

Asking empirical questions

Rodriguez typically spends a few weeks making phone calls to potential vendors, where he requests more information about the platform or solution and shares more about Solenvia’s operational models.

“Those first couple of weeks are critical,” Rodriguez said. “We’re typically doing multiple demos with those vendors again, just to do full due diligence to identify any gaps in the solution that they’re offering.”

One key characteristic of any new solution is interoperability, Rodriguez said. Solenvia uses AxisCare, a home care scheduling software, as well as the business cloud platform Zoho. New technology must work with the company’s existing processes and systems.

In all, Solenvia uses technology from between eight and 10 vendors, Rodriguez said. Sometimes, he saw that many companies do not do their own due diligence on Solenvia. He recalled vendors pitching products better suited for assisted living facilities or non-medical home care. Or, the vendor might have excellent technology but still is not suited for Solenvia’s operational needs.

“We have to then take a step back and say, ‘Okay, this seems great, but does it fit our model? Does it solve a problem for us? Or is it the next new hot thing that is being pushed and promoted?” Rodriguez said.

During the vetting process, Sternberg asks vendors how they created the product, how many engineers were involved and what context it was built for.

At TheKey, Gholizadeh asks whether the tool has clinical results and how it would fit into the provider’s delivery model.

“Let’s say [the solution] is an engagement tool for people living with dementia. I’ll ask vendors, ‘How many people living with dementia were involved in the creation of this? Did you talk to them about it? Did you test it with them? What did you learn? Did you talk to their families?’” Gholizadeh said. “I’m very reluctant to go too far into conversations with vendors where they haven’t been using it with a population.” 

Business considerations and avoiding commodification

Technology decisions should include business considerations beyond ROI — and can have business implications beyond operational efficiency.

When working with a vendor, providers should avoid signing contracts any longer than one year, Sternberg said, and ideally sign month-to-month contracts.

On a broader scale, Sternberg notes that using vendor technology homogenizes an industry. Providers should use homegrown technology to differentiate themselves within the industry, he said.

“Because if they’re using someone else’s, they’re just a commodity,” Sternberg said.

Understanding how a vendor uses technology, especially for AI tools, is also key to prevent aiding competitors.

“To make matters worse, if the vendor can use your data for anything they want, including training their models, then your data is making your competitor better,” Sternberg said. “People really have to think in ‘AI-land’ what actually matters to them, and where they want to be different versus where they want to be just like everybody else.”

Honor aims to build as much of its own technology as possible to differentiate itself from competitors. Not all technology will be built in-house, however. Honor relies on vendors for accounting systems and customer relationship management (CRM).

“Let’s say that your competitors all use the same vendor, and let’s say that you’re living in a world where software drives a lot of the operations of a business. Then, if you’re all using the same software, you’re all just the same thing,” Sternberg said. “You might as well just be one company.”