WellSky Home Health Reviews

Pros

I feel like it is very user friendly and customer support has always been extremely helpful in any issues we have had and in finding ways to customize the software to support our needs.

Cons

I am not a fan of the new help button in the bottom right of the screen after a recent update, i have also noticed that when you update the date of a task that is past due it does't go back to "black" it will stay "red"....so basically just a few minor quirks here and there.

Pros

WellSky for Hospice has simplified managing my patient load and insuring that all of my workload is organized. Charting is simple and easy on this software.

Cons

The Messaging feature does not allow you to scroll through messages while viewing a message. If you receive several messages, you have to constantly back out and view each individual message.

Pros

Interface is generally fairly intuitive. Daily notes are well organized. Perhaps its greatest strength is the interface for performing an OASIS SOC note. It makes the best of a long document. Customer support, while rarely able to solve the issues I have had, are professional and courteous and wait times are reasonable.

Cons

There are many. Keep in mind that I am a fairly new PT (graduated May 2016) and have been using Kinnser for almost 3 months. However, while I am no computer programmer, I consider myself computer literate and well above average in using applications like MS-Excel. Here are my biggest complaints with Kinnser:
-there is no auto-save feature, which still causes me to lose information on a weekly basis (How hard is it to click save? Answer: Not especially hard, but if you make a few quick notes and get back to working with a patient, surprisingly so.)
-The system is supposed to time out in 45 minutes if work isn't saved (note: this is not 45 minutes of no use, but 45 minutes of not being saved). This seems quite generous, but note that this is 45 minutes in theory. There are other issues with the time out feature as I will explain below. Today, I was writing in the assessment section and the time out screen popped up (warning you to "click here to stay signed in" or "click here to sign out"). A five minute timer runs in this pop-up window. Fair enough. But it had not been 45 minutes since I last saved and when I spoke with Customer Support (no wait time on the phone, which was nice), they told me that it had been only nine minutes since it last saved. I wouldn''t have even called Customer Support if the "Click here to stay signed in" button worked, but it didn't. It just reset the timer. Re-clicking it only reset the timer again. Indefinitely. So I called Customer Support. When I asked for an explanation as to why the timer feature was not working they told me that they had updated Kinnser the previous evening and since I had not cleared my cache and cookies , this essentially made the time-out clock poorly calibrated and not work. I can't refute that argument as I had only cleared my cache the previous afternoon, not previous evening. I pointed out that roughly fifty percent of the time the "stay signed in feature" does not work and either logs me out or just resets the clock indefinitely when the timer does show up. I clean my Browser's cache weekly. They had no explanation for this. (Customer support is again very patient and friendly throughout all of this).

-Viewing past notes is very cumbersome as it will split the subjective written portion (or objective or assessment) into separate parts of the generated pdf. (The subjective portion will start at the beginning of the note, but then users will have to scroll down to the bottom of the note to read the rest of the subjective portion.) It's like reading a newspaper, but having to switch multiple times between the front page and some page in the middle of the paper. Very weird. I have not asked for an explanation for this.

-While I did say the OASIS is fairly well organized for the initial run-through of the note, going back to edit could easily be made more efficient. Sections are divided into Prognosis/ADLs/Nutrition/Medication/Endocrine/etc pages, but if you have been asked by a supervisor to correct mistakes and (s)he only provides the "Moo Number" (ex. M-2205), and you aren't experienced enough in the OASIS to know immediately what section that is in, you have to go hunting for it. It would be great if they could put a "Moo Number" index with hyperlinks, or failing that, put the range of Moo Numbers for each page after on the menu screen. It would make navigating the OASIS for editing much faster.

-K-mail. K-mail is a form of inter-office email. Imagine a pre-year 2000 web based email system. That's kmail. It works, it's functional, but that's it. If you reply or forward a kmail, the previous author's message is not indented or color changed. In the rare long kmail exchange, it could be near impossible to tell who wrote what or when one response starts or ends unless each author started and finished with a salutation.

-Those last two complaints about the OASIS and K-mail are indicative of most of my concerns with Kinnser Software. It's that there are so many things that seemingly could be made more efficient or user-friendly without gutting the program, but remain unaddressed. If Kinnser was in Beta or a free program, I'd be willing to overlook a lot of its issues and annoyances. But Kinnser is not free. (I don't know how much my employer pays for a subscription relative to other EMRs.) I've used five different web-based EMRs in my short career/internships and while I had complaints about all of them (smart/cassamba, webPT, others I don't recall the name of now), none have so frequently frustrated me or resulted in lost data as often as Kinnser. Frankly, it drives me nuts. I've worked with Cassamba/smart much longer than Kinnser (10 months versus 3) but have only called Cassamba for support maybe three or four times. I call Kinnser with an issue possibly an average of almost once per week.

Pros

Biggest pro is pulling the last note, with it's information forward. If another nurse has seen the patient the week before, you see his or her note and have the latest information about what's going on.
Being able to update the meds immediately in the home and generate orders and communications immediately on the spot saves tons of time.
I feel safer in that I can pull up exact Dr's orders while out in the field. Less middle man communication.

Cons

I love love love the drop down boxes it enables more specific charting right under that specific body system when needed, unfortunately the pain section has no drop down box. This, to me, is a more important area than many of the others to have more room to write. You are limited under all sections under this title so that you are not able, at times to present a true picture and are left to chart what is happening elsewhere within the note. This would seem to be an easy fix. Please add more charting room here and I would be one happy nurse.

Pros

The organization of the program was easy to understand—the patient chart mirrors the way that paper charts used to be organized, including the tabs on the top of the page. The calendar in the chart also makes it easy to see when other disciplines are making visits as well.

Cons

I didn’t like that some of the features that make Kinnser a good program required additional purchases. Things like importing parts of the notes (like diagnosis in the therapy notes) are necessary to have, and the “extras” weren’t transparently verbalized prior to purchase. Also, the therapy functional assessments are the same not as the initial evaluations, which requires a lot of effort to ensure insurance compliance.

Pros

User friendly
Web-based
Company stays on top of regulatory changes
Online and web-based training library is comprehensive

Cons

New agency training stinks. It was 95% geared toward field nursing and 5% toward back office support. Of all the issues that we have had, I can honestly say 90% of them wouldn't have come up with proper training in the beginning. In hindsight, the most important issue that I did not know was that Kinnser does not systemically submit OASIS. I came from a software that had its issues, but in the 7-8 years I used it, I never once had to submit OASIS manually. It was done by the software vendor with no thought on my part. Therefore, when we switched to Kinnser, this wasn't an issue on my radar. I never thought to ask. We began using Kinnser in January 2017 and it wasn't until late March that we figured out OASIS wasn't being submitted. Then we had to go thru a setup process with Kinnser that should been part of implementation. The submitter ID was setup incorrectly which delayed submission. We had our first successful submission the first week in May, but meantime Palmetto/Medicare implemented a new rule on April 1, that they wouldn't pay any claims when the OASIS were submitted after 30 days. Palmetto denied payment in finals and recouped another in RAPs already paid. This minor issue costs my agency. Needless to say, Kinnser cut me off at the beginning of the next month because our payment was late. They didn't care that they contributed to the issue.
In addition, we had multiple billing issues.

Pros

When I found out that a new client was using Kinser, or what they called Wellsky, I was skeptical because I had never heard of it before. When I was finally given clearance to use the software, I found it to be chock full of features and resources that even some competitors were slow to adopt. It can be difficult to use at times because of numerous technical bugs and some very avoidable issues with the OASIS resource, but it is very useful if you do not have another software for your medical company.

Cons

I did some research and was confident that I would be able to use The software with relative ease, especially after reviewing the so-called manual, which was really just a few pages of “How-To” for computer illiterates. I was wrong. It took WAY too long to understand this program before I realized that I wasn’t losing my mind, but that the program itself was terribly plagued with bugs and technical issues. I am constantly signed out when I’m barely idle for ten minutes, and sometimes I even click the “stay signed” button that pops up and I’m signed out anyway, I can’t seem to find clinical notes and data necessary for billing - it’s as if the PTs and RNs post them and then they’re lost in the Kinser Matrix. I have had more issues billing and exporting digital claim files with this software than any of its contemporaries. I can not recommend this until they get their act together.

Pros

Takes the place of a lot of paper, I can find out information without calling office, saves trips to office.

Cons

NO AUTO SAVE. I spend so much time rewriting notes because it doesn’t always load correctly, or if I’m busy with a pt for too long, it drops off line, I then chart more and when I save I find out NOTHING WAS SAVED.. modern software auto saves.
The font is difficult to read on tablets, it does not work well on non iPad tablets. Information needed on a pt is not easily accesssble. You have to leave your note and Enter 2 more areas to get basic stuff like DOB, Dr info or medication info, then you risk LOOSING EVERYTHING YOUVE CHARTED BECAUSE IT DIDNT LOAD.theres got to be better solutions than this software.

Pros

Easy to use schedule, billing and notes. Flow of the notes are well planned.

Cons

Once WellSky took over Kinnser the quality of support and care for their clients ended. Kinnser was great and did not think of you as a number. WellSky cares more about increasing costs and complicating the Home Health Software. Support is terrible and rarely responds, and when they do it's normally a condescending conversation. I've used Kinnser for over 8 years and will look for another solution which is sad.

Pros

its safety features: times out after idle for period of time
ability to save templates by name for future use with saved information

Cons

does not autosave, will lose data if you do not save--going to another patient's chart or signing out without saving, data is lost
vitals info can only be inputed once, would be convenient to have vital input options before activity, during activity, and post activity
Inability to retreat documents to edit once documents have been submitted unless administrator returns
lengthy document

Pros

critical data from prior notes can carry forward, there are easy to access reports to determine where charts are in the billing process, there is a robust scrubber that detects errors that will reduce reimbursement and/or star ratings

Cons

Goals components are only nursing based - Library is very cumbersome for goals that are not specific to nursing - they can be set up for other disciplines but it is awkward and hard to use

Pros

The interface is designed much like the internet itself which is easy for anyone from the field through the office to grasp and utilize. I even have my contractors using it. The reporting structures are pretty through. Now that they have added PPS Plus it is simply a Win Win.

Cons

I don't have dislikes. I don't know why I need to document so much to say the same thing. I do not have dislikes. I am very satisfied. I have even taken this software to other agencies where I have consulted.

Pros

This is a great product with fast response times and amazing functionality. One click and you are right where you need to be.

Cons

Sometimes it's very slow and customer service isn't very helpful. They have slow response times and sometimes even tell us they are unable to help.

Pros

User friendly

Cons

I hate not being able to see multiple patients and their schedules at the same time. Also very expensive...

Pros

I love everything about it but I especially love the Kmail which increases communication with employees, keeps everyone up to date on current orders, etc...

Cons

Very rarely, but sometimes, I will suddenly get kicked off the website with no warning, losing information that hadn't been saved.

Pros

Use of iPads. The kmail system. There are really no Pros to this product to be discussed. It has been a constant up-hill struggle.

Cons

Where to begin. Customer support is awful....they promise to get back to you and then do not follow up so when you call back they do not know what you are talking about. We are a rural Home Health agency and are often out of service area and Kinnser has an offline feature that they charge extra for but that is cumbersome to use and usually does not work. There is no automatic save on any clinical note so unless you constantly "save" you can loose everything and have to start over. Billing scenario is a nightmare. You cannot use a secondary biller through Kinnser. You have to open several tabs to be able to look at more than one page of Kinnser. Many more issues, including being off-line too many times. For all the issues we have had they will not allow us to break our contract early. Kinnser is very expensive and one would expect high end service.

Pros

I haven't used such an easy system for Home Health. I have had some pretty difficult systems but Agency manager by far is the easiest!

Cons

I don't have a lot of cons to think of but one I could say would be sometimes it freezes up on me and makes me lose what I was working on but that never really happens often for us. When it does, we just give the technical support a call and they usually just tell us it was a glitch and it should be fine if we log out and back in.

Pros

When agencies allow users to "use previous note" the system flows between the evaluation and the regular notes and then on to the discharge very well.

Cons

1) When agencies do not allow users to "use previous note" there are big information gaps between the initial evaluations, visit notes, reassessments and discharges. 2) The pain section of therapy notes don't allow clear documentation of interventions or results of intervention. 3) We wish it was easier to document the progress towards goals by having the goals project foward between all the visits, whether or not other clinicians have documented towards them.

Pros

Billing overview you can see all or your claims in one place, if they are ready to go, and if they have paid.
Documenting visits notes extremely easy to learn.
Calendar view with visit types is very easy to follow.
Customer service is immediate.

Cons

Rescheduling a visit date, I would like for it to be able to change it in more than one place.

Pros

Ease of use and helps satisfy all regulations to keep your agency compliant. Control remains in the hands of the administrative staff to reduce error rates.

Cons

Unable to tailor much to your own agency. Although, this isn't much of a con as Kinnser does a great job at giving you great forms and reports.

Pros

There were very few pros for this. I liked the functionality for the clinicians and the sticky notes. I liked the ability to change their review percentages and I liked their workflow for reviewing items, but there were a lot of pros to this, as well. I liked that it was web based.

Cons

It lacked a lot of functionality and the ability to create hardstops; clinicians were able to submit blank notes and Oasis just so they could get paid. The QA process was lengthy. Everything had to be double checked because the ability to submit notes without hardstops. The QA percentage could be dropped, but missed visits wouldn't still go to QA manager so that the supervisor would know to make sure the physicians were notified. There are several gaps in the system.

Pros

Web based and ease of use for clinicians. That is really the only reason we continue to use them at this time.

Cons

We have used this system for years but have recently become quite unhappy with the product. This EMR has refused to take simple steps to assist agencies to be compliant with the new COPs. Example: They refuse to add a hospital risk assessment tool to the comprehensive assessment. This leaves their customers searching for a method to identify a patients hospitalization risk through outside resources. Instead of putting in standardized assessment tool, such as the ones they include for Pain Assessment, Fall Risk Assessment, Nutritional Assessment and Skin Assessment, they refer their customers to Riskpoint, an expensive "hospital risk management tool" add on Kinnser offers.

Pros

Note forwarding is a very good feature and and medication auto fill save time. Also like that I can save templates on various diagnosis

Cons

There's a lot of things you can do with kinnser it's very confusing at times. However there's plenty of ways to learn via videos and support