The idea of moving from a paper based agency to a computer system seems overwhelming for most providers.  It is definitely an exercise in change management as we have recently written about.  One of the pluses to getting everything off of paper and into a system is the ability to track everything in one platform.  Before, with paper, you could track things on forms or in different binders but that information is basically trapped on the paper.  If you stop and think about everything that you track for a client, from service notes to emergency contacts to units authorized, if you were tracking that in a single system as opposed to pieces of paper you would have tremendous data on every client you served and be better able to serve that client.  So to answer the title of this blog post, you can track everything that you're tracking now on paper.  The only difference is you can do a lot more with the information once you've noted it.  Let's examine some areas of tracking.

For provider agencies that are funded through Medicaid waivers, utilization management is a key to success.  Unfortunately, Medicaid in this country has turned into a political battleground.  Federal and state governments are always looking at Medicaid when it comes time to approach budget cuts and different models have been proposed or implemented, most commonly a managed care model, to try and save Medicaid dollars.  So for some of you, direct state Medicaid reimbursement is a thing of the past.  But for others, it is still your primary source of funding and your lifeblood.  And with the constant threat of Medicaid funding getting pulled or cut, utilizing and maximing the funding that you currently have is crucial.  Below are grades for two methods of utilization management, which method do you fall under?