Voices: Michelle Barlow, BSN, RN, Director of Regulatory and Clinical Excellence, Homecare Homebase

In this Voices interview, Hospice News sits down with Michelle Barlow, BSN, RN, Director of Regulatory and Clinical Excellence at Homecare Homebase, to share how emerging technologies can improve the daily lives of clinicians.

Hospice News: What life and career experiences do you most draw from, in your role today?

Michelle Barlow: I’ve been really fortunate to have a variety of roles throughout my home health career, and each one has shaped how I approach my work today. When we’re working on something that affects clinicians in the field, I often find myself putting my “field nurse hat” back on and asking, If I were still out there seeing patients, what would make my job easier or more meaningful?

Because I’ve held nearly every role in home health, I can relate to the challenges and priorities of different team members—from clinicians to executives—and that helps me see things from multiple perspectives. It’s something I draw on every day to make sure the solutions we’re developing truly support the people using them.

What are the biggest opportunities for technology to improve clinician experiences?

Clinicians today are carrying a lot—heavy documentation, higher-acuity patients, and growing caseloads. I really believe technology can help lift some of that weight by going beyond data collection and providing insights that help make sense of the data. When clinicians have access to information that supports decision-making, they can focus more on proactive, preventive care instead of constantly reacting.

There’s also a real opportunity to make the day-to-day experience easier—things like smarter scheduling and route optimization to cut down on windshield time, or AI tools that help with clinical documentation during visits. It all comes back to helping clinicians spend more time doing what they love—caring for people.

How can technology improve documentation processes?

Documentation has always been a pain point for clinicians—it’s essential, but it often pulls their focus away from the patient. Technology can really change that dynamic. With tools like AI-powered scribes and voice recognition, we can capture visit details in real time, making documentation faster and more natural.

Smart templates and prompts can also help ensure clinicians capture what’s needed without extra clicks or redundant work. The goal isn’t just to make documentation easier—it’s to make it more meaningful, so it supports quality care and compliance without getting in the way of the patient connection.

When does technology hinder proper documentation?

Technology can actually get in the way when clinicians rely on it too heavily. Tools like AI documentation assistants are incredibly helpful, but they’re not perfect—they can miss context or misinterpret clinical details. When clinicians skip the review process and assume the technology got everything right, accuracy can suffer.

At the end of the day, these tools are meant to support clinicians, not replace their judgment. It’s still essential to review and validate what’s been captured to make sure the documentation truly reflects the patient’s condition and the care provided. Technology works best when it enhances clinical insight, not when it replaces it.

What innovations are you most excited to see in the short term?

One of the innovations I’m most excited about is our hospitalization risk tool, Predict, which we recently developed at HCHB. It provides a real-time hospitalization risk score that helps clinicians identify patients who may need extra attention before a crisis occurs. It’s a powerful step toward truly proactive care—helping patients stay healthier and out of the hospital.

I often think back to my days in the field and wish I’d had something like this. When one of my patients went into the hospital, I would replay the last few visits in my head, wondering what I might have missed. Having access to real-time risk trends and alerts could have made such a difference, giving me the chance to intervene sooner and potentially prevent those avoidable hospitalizations.

What changes do you think are coming further in the future?

I think we’re going to see technology play an even bigger role in connecting care across settings and making it more personalized. Right now, we’re focused on easing clinicians’ day-to-day workload and helping them make better decisions in real time—but in the future, I see data and predictive insights coming together in a much more seamless way.

We’ll move toward a world where clinicians have a complete view of the patient, no matter where that patient is in their care journey. Technology will anticipate needs, support earlier interventions, and help coordinate care across multiple providers. The goal isn’t to replace the clinician—it’s to surround them with tools that give them more time, more clarity, and more confidence in the care they provide.

Finish this sentence: “In the home-based care industry, 2025 is being defined by…”

…a renewed focus on making care more personal, proactive, and connected.

Technology is becoming less about replacing tasks and more about truly supporting the people delivering care. We’re finding better ways to use data and innovation to ease the workload, improve outcomes and give clinicians more time to do what matters most—care for their patients.

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Homecare Homebase is a software leader offering hosted, cloud-based solutions to streamline operations, simplify compliance and boost clinical and financial outcomes for home-based care agencies. To learn more visit hchb.com/.

The Voices Series is a sponsored content program featuring leading executives discussing trends, topics and more shaping their industry in a question-and-answer format. For more information on Voices, please contact [email protected].