I’m Kayla. I started as a field nurse. Now I help run a small hospice and home health team. I’ve charted on paper in my car. I’ve also used Axxess, WellSky/Kinnser, and MatrixCare. Last year we moved our hospice side to Hospice Tools. I was nervous. New software can wreck a week. But I’ll tell you what happened, the good and the not-so-good.
Setup: Not fancy, but it didn’t break us
Our rollout took two weeks. We imported active patients with a simple spreadsheet. The trainer walked us through forms, plan of care, and the visit flow. It wasn’t magic. It was steady. We did a few dry runs. I documented the entire process in a separate field journal—it’s an even nerdier deep dive if you’re curious.
On the first Friday after go-live, we had a late admit. Of course we did. I was on-call. I grabbed my iPhone, opened Hospice Tools, and did the whole admit at the bedside. History, meds, plan of care, safety check. The app saved my work with no cell signal. I synced it when I got back to the car. I took a deep breath and said, “Okay, that worked.”
A day in the field: Offline charting saved my sanity
Most of my visits happen in dead zones. Hospice Tools lets me chart offline on my phone or iPad. I can:
- Start the visit, clock in, and it stamps GPS and time.
- Use voice to text for quick notes. Yes, I still correct a few words.
- Snap wound photos and mark changes.
- Update the plan of care right there.
One real moment: Mrs. L had new pain near the end of a long country road. No bars. I updated her PRN med plan, drafted an order, and saved it. When I hit town, the app synced. The order went to the doctor’s portal to e-sign. Pharmacy got faxed within the hour. She slept that night. I did too.
Home health folks on our team use the same flow for teaching and wound care visits. It’s not as deep for OASIS work as some home health systems, so we still keep WellSky for that program. But for field notes, Hospice Tools felt fast and clear.
Team stuff that actually works: IDG, bereavement, and schedules
IDG (that’s the team meeting) can drag. Monday mornings? Oof. Hospice Tools auto-loads each patient’s goals, recent visits, meds, and risk flags into an IDG view. We add updates line by line. It spits out a clean IDG summary that our doc and chaplain sign. Last month a surveyor asked for three IDG notes right then. I pulled them in under a minute. My coffee didn’t even get cold.
Scheduling is color coded and simple. Aides clock in and out from their phones, and we see who’s running late. I’m not a clock hawk, but it helps when a family calls and asks, “Is anyone coming today?” I can say yes, and I can see where they are.
Bereavement tools matter more than people think. Hospice Tools sets tasks for calls at 2 weeks, 6 weeks, and 3 months. Our chaplain sees a small list each week. He says it keeps him honest. Grief care should not slip through a crack.
One side note: technology that supports older adults isn’t limited to healthcare. There’s a growing set of dating apps aimed at seniors looking for companionship. If you want a quick primer on that world, check out this roundup of the best mature-dating apps—it explains which platforms are easiest for the 50-plus crowd to navigate and highlights safety features, insights you might find handy when families ask about trustworthy online spaces for their loved ones.
Caregivers working near the Detroit–Windsor border sometimes ask about region-specific social platforms where older adults can list events or meet companions; in those cases, browsing the Windsor-area classified listings on Backpage Windsor can give you a quick snapshot of local happenings, personals, and services—useful intel when you’re steering families toward safe, age-appropriate community resources and away from potential scams.
Meds and orders: Fewer phone calls, fewer sticky notes
The eMAR is clean. Nurses can log doses, PRNs, and waste for narcotics. Our aides can note symptoms and trigger a nurse check. A real case: a daughter called at 9 pm about morphine. I checked the med list from my couch, saw the last dose, and walked her through safe use. Then I pushed a note to the on-call nurse, just in case. No guessing. No “I’ll call you back in an hour.”
Orders flow well. We send a link to the doctor; they e-sign; Hospice Tools auto-files it to the chart. Before, I was chasing paper and hoping the fax lines were clean. Now I chase fewer things. I still chase snacks in my glove box, though. Old habits.
Billing and reports: Not sexy, but it paid the bills
I’m not our biller, but I sit near her. She built claims in the system and sent Medicare files without drama. Hospice Tools also brought in remits, matched payments, and flagged rejections. That used to take a whole afternoon. Now it’s an hour tops. It reminded me how the right back-office tech can free up real human time—I learned the same lesson when I road-tested supply-chain compliance software.
QA queues helped us before a survey. Late notes, missing signatures, unsigned orders—it puts them in a single list. We cleared the list on Friday. Surveyor walked in Monday. Not perfect. But I didn’t get that cold-sweat feeling.
What I loved
- Offline charting that actually works. Field life is spotty. The app didn’t care.
- IDG tools that save time and look neat.
- Clean eMAR with simple narc tracking.
- Easy e-sign orders for doctors. Less chasing.
- Bereavement tasking that keeps the promise we make to families.
- Solid scheduling and EVV timestamps. Clear and fair.
What bugged me
- Custom forms felt stiff. We needed vendor help for small tweaks.
- Report builder is fine, but not fun. I wanted more “show me this” buttons.
- Older Android phones stuttered in photo upload. Newer phones did fine.
- The family portal felt basic. It shows the plan and visits, but messages are limited.
- Training videos ran long. I prefer short clips by task.
None of these were deal breakers. But they made me sigh once or twice.
How it stacks up with others I’ve used
- Axxess Hospice: Slick mobile feel and strong home health tools. If your shop does heavy OASIS work, Axxess may fit better on that side. Hospice Tools beat it for IDG and bereavement in my hands.
- WellSky/Kinnser: Big reporting power. But it felt heavy and slow on weak cell service. Hospice Tools ran lighter in the field.
- MatrixCare: Good long-term care links. Our hospice team liked Hospice Tools’ visit flow more. Less clicking, more doing.
If you’re mostly hospice or a mixed team that needs simple field charting, Hospice Tools hits a sweet spot. If you’re pure home health with complex OASIS and PDGM needs, you may want a home health-first system and keep Hospice Tools just for hospice.
If you’re surveying the wider market, take a look at Cupid Systems as well—its modular design lets agencies bolt on the hospice or home-health pieces they need without overpaying for extras.
Price and support
Pricing was per user for us. Not the cheapest. Fair for what we got. If you want to see how other agencies rate the platform, check out the Hospice Tools reviews on Capterra. Your mileage may vary, so ask for a live demo and a real quote for your census and roles. Support chat answered me in under five minutes most days. We had a Sunday log-in glitch once. They called me back within an hour. I wrote their name on a sticky note. That matters.
Small stories that stuck with me
A winter storm knocked out towers. I still finished two visits, synced later, and the orders went out. Moments like that are why I’m borderline obsessed with fail-safes; I even ran disaster-recovery software through its paces to see how it held up when everything went sideways. Another time, our volunteer coordinator used the system to track a birthday card list for three families. Tiny thing, big heart. The tool didn’t fight her.
And one more: I used to keep a stack of paper narc sheets in my trunk. Now I keep a blanket, water, and extra gloves. That feels like progress.
Final take: Would I keep it?
Yes. For hospice work, Hospice Tools fits real life. It’s not flashy. It gets out of the way. I can chart at the bedside, run a clean