Probably one of the hardest tasks for any provider agency is managing your employees' schedules and the process of allocating resources to appointments and what to do when the appointed resource can't make their shift.  Whiteboard schedules like the one above are a common way to manage the in and out of employees to give schedulers a "big picture" on what's happening.  Being unorganized in this area of your business is extremely detrimental to the success of your agency.  Do you know how many missed appointments your agency averages a month?  Do you know the most common reason why appointments are missed?  Do you have a process in place to re-allocate a qualified employee to cover a missed shift?  What is the damage to the brand of your agency when you don't show up when you are supposed to?  This area of service is so important to your agency that even if you have mastered the art of whiteboard scheduling, looking at more efficient ways to control your schedule and get real analytics from it will make you a better agency.  Here are 5 reasons why investing in a scheduling software solution will make you a better agency.

As a new year begins, most Americans look to start fresh with ways to improve something about themselves.  A New Year's resolution is always filled with so much promise and optimism.  And rarely does it get carried out through the entire course of the year.  I, myself, am a victim to the annual goal setting that rarely sees a victorious finish in December.  Heck, I usually don't even remember what my New Year's resolution is by March.  Getting in shape is always on the list.  Gym memberships see their largest increase in January.   But, according to Health Club Industry statistics, a whopping 67% of memberships never get used!  So it's safe to say we like the idea of being more healthy and in shape, but to actually commit time to do it is another thing!  The same comparison can be made when purchasing an Ageny Management Platform.  During the sales process, you and your staff will get really excited about all of the bells and whistles that the software can do for you.  Suddenly, things you have never been able to do will become MUST HAVES.  Excitement will run high and you will go through an engaging and thorough training and implementation on how to use the software and then one day it will be yours to use.  The training wheels will come off.  Like a gym membership, how many features and functions will you actually use day to day?  Most likely, not everything.  But it's important use and get really good at the core functionality and become disciplined in using it day in and day out.  Here are 4 Simple Resolutions for better using an Agency Management Platform in 2013.

News recently broke in Virginia of a human service agency employee that was sentenced to ten months in prison for altering client records in order to cover up Medicaid fraud.  You can find the article here.  Over a three year period, under the direction of the owner, the agency billed for and received reimbursements for 900 fake claims for providing respite services to 30 clients.  In total, the agency received over $630,000 of fraudulent Medicaid money.  Staff were told to falsify and make false entries to time sheets and office records to make it seem as though respite service had occured when, indeed it had not.  Ultimately, the case was investigated at the highest level - the FBI - and the Virginia State Attorney General's Office.  The employee has been charged with health care fraud, alteration of records and aggravated identity theft.

In home care industries, the move to software from a paper based way of documenting and billing services is happening more and more.  As you begin your search for the right software solution, it's important to come into it with the right expectations of what you should expect the software to do as well as what it means for you and your staff on a day to day basis. So we're using today's post to go over 4 realities of software for home care industries so that you are better aligned with what is reasonable to expect from the software and from your people.