In 2011, a simple conversation about magazine advertising and subscriptions led to an interesting meeting on the 12^th floor of 1825 K Street in Washington, D.C. K Street, not far from the Capitol, is well known for its lobbying and advocacy organizations eager to create relationships with Washington’s power brokers. The parent company of Apostrophe magazine, a Montana publication = for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), was in town to meet with the marketing staff of The Arc, the nation’s leading organization for people with I/DD, ostensibly to talk about the magazine.

Every non-profit is faced with the never-ending task of fundraising and staying in the peripheral vision of their donors and potential donors, as well as potential individuals that need your services.  As ID/DD service providers, the lifeblood of your agency is referrals and funding.  With the state of Medicaid and Medicare constantly being under fire by politicians and legislation, it's more important than ever that service providers step up to increase their community exposure to ensure that the public at large is aware of the great things that you do.  This list contains just a few tips to help and is by no means the be all, end all.  After speaking with a handful of people in the non-profit fundraising space, a common trend stood out.  And that is the attempt to get a younger demographic involved in the effort and leveraging new media with them.  

There are so many software products targeted to specific purposes in this industry (such as case notes, billing, and demographic tracking), it’s hard to understand and keep track of what they all actually do.  “If I go with one system, will I still need to use other systems in tandem?”  “We bought this system to handle one function and we think it can do more, but we don’t know what it can and can’t do.”  These are comments our customers frequently tell us before they found out about MediSked Connect, as they were wading through the massive amount of disconnected software products on the market.  The MediSked Connect platform is defined as an Agency Management Platform (AMP) and is the first and only platform to currently have that designation.  The services that you are providing now can be centralized and managed through it.  By consolidating this information, you will be reducing duplicate keypunching, human errors and bad data.  Connecting data and systems in a real-time platform will lead to reduced costs, easier maintenance and safeguards, as well as turn your agency into an industry leader integrating best practices and the latest technologies. 

 To make an informed decision about investing in technology that will be part of the fabric of your agency, you need to know what’s inside – what an Agency Management Platform contains and doesn’t contain.  Below is how Connect is defined as an Agency Management Platform: