Why haven't you bought your skilled nursing facility liaisons laptops yet?

I happened across this lively discussion on LinkedIn, with all sorts of industry experts much smarter than me sharing ideas for improving SNF marketing and building census. (Great to see this active discourse in long-term care groups online.) 

One other thing many people in the thread advise is to empower liaisons to make fast acceptance decisions about patients in the field. I offered one extension to that advice: Buy them laptops or netbooks or some other suitable Web-enabled devices. Now.  

Netbooks in particular are so cheap now it seems impossible to afford not to equip the liaisons with them. Dell and others have powerful netbooks that weigh less than three pounds for less than $300 now. Most also have cheap mobile broadband options available from multiple carriers, so they can be Web-connected wherever they are. A single extra patient day could cover the cost of that investment. 

We've seen the results with our SNF clients. Clearly, it makes our Web-based system for automating and tracking marketing activities, and accelerating the referral-to-admissions process, even more powerful. Liaisons are able to make assessments, verify coverage, accept patients in the field, and trigger alerts to admissions staff to follow through immediately. The improved responsiveness and turnaround times are dramatic. It can mean the difference between admitting a well qualified patient, or losing that patient to another facility. 

Even for our clients who don't give liaisons full authority to accept a patient in the field benefit tremendously by giving their marketers Web devices. Enabling them to enter the referral information/documentation online at the hospital, and triggering the assessment and approval process at the facility, has a huge positive effect on admissions rates and patient mix. 

We've heard to argument many times from SNF executives that it's just too costly to equip all of their liaisons with laptops. If their effectiveness makes or breaks your census goals, you might rethink your perspective on that investment. Netbooks for everyone!