A guide for Ontario agencies
How to choose home care software
Choosing software for a home care agency is a decision you live with for years. It touches every part of the day: how visits are scheduled, how caregivers work, how families are kept informed, and how you get paid. This guide is here to help you choose well, whoever you choose.
There is no single best system, only the one that fits the care you deliver and the way your team works. Use the steps and checklists below to compare your options on what matters, not on the longest feature list.
Four steps before you compare vendors
Start with the care you deliver
List the programs you run today: personal support, homemaking, nursing, meals, transportation, residences. The right software has to fit all of them, not just the biggest one.
Name the problem you are solving
Missed visits? Month-end billing that takes a week? Families calling the office all day? Be specific. It keeps demos honest and stops you buying features you will never use.
Involve the people who will use it
Coordinators, PSWs and someone from billing should see it before you sign. Software a caregiver won’t open on their phone is software you are paying for twice.
Compare on fit, support and price, not feature count
Most systems can list a hundred features. What matters is whether the ones you need work well together, how you’re supported, and what it truly costs for an agency your size.
What to look for
A checklist, by part of the agency
Scheduling and visits
- Recurring visits and quick cover for call-outs
- Open shifts caregivers can pick up
- Caregiver skills, availability, time off and travel taken into account
- A clear view of every visit that still needs a worker
The caregiver app
- Works on the phone caregivers already carry (iPhone and Android)
- Today’s visits, directions, care plan and tasks in a few taps
- Check-in and check-out, even with no cell signal
- Simple enough that a busy PSW will actually use it
Clients and families
- A way for families to see upcoming visits without calling the office
- Access given per family member, and removable at any time
- Secure messaging kept with the client’s record
- English and French for every person
Care plans and assessments
- Care plan tasks that travel with every visit
- Your own assessment and care forms, with scoring and sign-off
- Case notes and alerts the whole team can see
Funding and compliance
- Authorised hours tracked per funder, with a warning before they run out
- Referrals from Ontario Health atHome accepted into a client record
- Reports on missed and late visits, incidents and complaints
- A record of who looked at which client’s information
Billing and payroll
- Invoices and funder claims built from verified visits, without re-keying
- HST handled correctly for the services you provide
- Paid hours, mileage and premiums ready for payroll
- Works with the payroll provider you already use, or replaces it
Questions worth asking any vendor
- Where will our clients’ information be stored, and is it in Canada?
- How do you help us meet PHIPA as custodians of personal health information?
- What does it really cost for an agency our size, including add-ons and setup?
- How are we charged: per client, per caregiver, per visit, or a flat fee?
- What does bringing our clients, staff and schedules over look like?
- How long until we are live, and who helps us get there?
- How do we reach support when something goes wrong during a shift?
- Will caregivers and families have it in French as well as English?
- What happens to our data if we decide to leave?
- Can you build something specific to the way our agency works?
How pricing usually works
Most home care software is sold as a monthly subscription. Common ways to charge are per active client, per caregiver, or a flat fee by agency size, often with separate add-ons for things like billing, payroll or extra programs.
Watch for the full picture: setup or onboarding fees, training, support tiers, and whether modules you need are included or cost extra. A low headline price with everything as an add-on can cost more than a higher all-in one.
Ask whether you can start small and add modules as your programs grow, rather than paying from day one for things you won’t use yet.
What to weigh in Canada
- Data residency: keeping client information in Canada is simpler to explain to clients, families and funders, and avoids questions about data leaving the country.
- PHIPA: in Ontario your agency is the custodian of personal health information. Your software should help you meet that duty, with roles, access controls and audit records.
- French: much of Ontario home care is delivered in both languages. Software your caregivers and families can use in French matters.
- Ontario Health atHome: if you take publicly funded referrals, ask how the software handles them.
- Canadian support: a vendor in your own time zone, who understands Ontario home care, is easier to work with than one an ocean away.
Where Orliva stands
For full disclosure: we make Orliva. We built it to meet this checklist for Ontario agencies — scheduling, a caregiver app, client and family apps, care plans, meals, rides, billing and payroll in one place, hosted in Canada and available in English and French. You can take the whole suite or only the modules you need, and pay for what you use.
See everything it does, how the modules fit together, or how we protect your data — and compare them against whoever else you’re considering.
Questions agencies ask
- How much does home care software cost?
- Most home care software is a monthly subscription, charged per active client, per caregiver, or a flat fee by agency size, often with add-ons for billing, payroll or extra programs. Ask each vendor what it costs in full for an agency your size, including setup and support.
- What should we look for in home care software?
- Match it to the care you deliver, then compare on scheduling, a caregiver app your PSWs will use, a way to keep families informed, care plans, funding and compliance, and billing and payroll that build from verified visits.
- Does our data need to stay in Canada?
- In Ontario your agency is the custodian of personal health information under PHIPA. Keeping client information in Canada is simpler to explain to clients, families and funders. Ask each vendor where data is stored.
Comparing your options?
Bring your real scenarios and your checklist. We’ll show you honestly where Orliva fits and where it might not.