1st Quarter Newsletter 2009

CEO Letter

As we start the new year, I wanted to share the goal I have set for us here at KaleidaCare: That every customer would realize significant and measurable value from KaleidaCare Solutions.

We’ll achieve that through the hard work of our account managers, our system engineers, our product development team, and in partnership with our customers. It does take a commitment by both vendor and agency to get the full value out of a software system. It requires a plan, prioritization of resources, and hard work.

Our team is committed and ready to help. Are you ready to take advantage of what we can offer? Many agencies are saving money by using our system to eliminate double entry, increase reimbursement, win new contracts and grants, and automate administrative functions. We want to help all customers reach this level. Reach out to your account manager and find out how we can help.

All the best in the upcoming year,
Alistair Deakin,
President & CEO

User Group Updates

Online User Group

KaleidaCare’s Online User Group continues to meet monthly to cultivate the KaleidaCare Community. This group’s standing agenda includes discussing tips & tricks for using KaleidaCare Solutions and reviewing new and upcoming functionality. The group also has created a forum for users to present questions and issues related to service delivery or the Solutions software. One new agenda item is how agencies are addressing funding changes within the 21 states in which users are providing services.

KaleidaCare has recently added an online message board to enhance communication within the user community.

National User Group

KaleidaCare’s National User Group will be held in Austin, Texas on April 22 -24, 2009. Mark your calendars now and plan to attend!

This three-day event will allow users from various agencies and states the opportunity to learn more about the KaleidaCare system and staff; as well as to learn from other users. “This is truly a great opportunity for users to come together and learn from the best and brightest . . . that would be our users!” said Chip Bolyard, Director of Account Management.

The agenda for the National User Group is being compiled by the Online User Group, but highlights include:

New functionality presentations
User presentations
Specific trainings
Future development projects

You or your staff could attend the National User Group for Free! KaleidaCare is pleased to announce our new Refer A Friend Program – Earn A Trip. All you need to do is talk with someone at an agency you know, introduce KaleidaCare, and provide us with the appropriate contact information. If the referring agency signs with KaleidaCare by March 31, 2009, you will earn an All Expense* Paid Trip to the 2009 National User Group in Austin, TX or $500 Agency Credit.

*Includes Registration, Airfare, Lodging, and $35 Meal Per Diem

KaleidaCare’s Newest Customer

Caring Family Network

Caring Family Network (Austin, TX) has rejoined the KaleidaCare community. Caring Family Network’s (CFN) mission is to provide stable, secure and nurturing family environments for the very special needs of the seriously disturbed children placed in their care. CFN serves over 300 children with over 150 foster families in central Texas. The services offered range from basic foster care, treatment foster care, services to primary medical needs children, services to habiliative/MR children, and adoption. With offices in Killeen, Kerrville and Austin, CFN will be better equipped to manage their foster homes and client’s files with KaleidaCare’s implementation. With services for over 15 years, KaleidaCare is excited to aid CFN in their efficiency and accountability and welcomes them onboard.

Recent Developments

KaleidaCare continues to add system enhancements – recent enhancements include:

Client Status Reports

Generate Reports for Both Program Categories

“Any Program Category” has been added to the Program Category Filter on the Client Status Reports. Users can now pull client status information for both substitute care and community based clients in the same report. This is available for all statuses.

Group By Type of Discharge

A Group By Type of Discharge has been added to the Discharge Status Report. The Type of Discharge is also now configurable to meet the agency’s reporting needs.

Group By Referral Source

A Group By Referral Source has been added to all statuses, with the exception of Active Clients.

Group By Date

A Group By Date has been added to all statuses, with the exception of Active Clients.

Logs

Logs on Multiple Clients

Since the majority of the time agencies want a separate note for each client, we've changed it so that the box to "Create a Separate Log" will be automatically checked when adding a Case Note or Session Log. Now you won't have to remember to check it when completing group notes, etc. If you are writing a log on only 1 client, you can leave the box checked - it won't have any impact, so there's no need for you to do anything. If you are writing a note on multiple clients and prefer to have all of them appear on the same note, you can simply uncheck this box.

Quick Search

A Quick Search Tool has been added to the Incident Log Search Filter to pull the last 5 Incident Logs entered.

Date Change

The Health Care Log Default Date no longer defaults to the current date. This required field will be completed by the user and will assist with entering the correct health care event date.

Diagnosis Ordering

The Diagnosis on the Diagnosis Log Report will appear in priority order and then alphabetically regardless of how they are entered on the entry screen.

Other Enhancements

Family ID

The Family System ID Number has been added to the Family on the Facilities Menu to assist with easier identification.

New Manuals

We have added seven new User Manuals to the User Manuals tab in Solutions.

KaleidaCare Settings and Configurations (formerly Browser Configuration)
KaleidaCare Settings and Configurations Overview
KaleidaCare Login and System Navigation
Adding a Client and Basic Information in KaleidaCare
Individual Client Tracking - Community Based Services
Client Tracking – Substitute Care
How To Use Document Storage and Retrieval

Georgia User Group

The last 2008 Georgia User Group was held on December 4th, a week early due to the holidays. Twelve people from eight agencies attended the quarterly meeting. The main topic was Getting the Most from Reports in Kaleidacare, and we focused on the Client Status Report and the Client, Facility and Staff Listings Reports. Of special interest was using the Client Status Report for the Monthly Rosters that agencies are required to submit to the State. The group requested an enhancement to add the Medicaid number to the Client Status Report so that it would have all the data points needed for these State Rosters. This enhancement is currently pending. Members also shared some other ways they have utilized these Reports. The group discussed how they handle training staff and monitoring the system to ensure that needed information is entered in a timely manner so that the Reports are accurate and up to date. Trish Murphy shared some Recent Enhancements, such as the Group by Type of Discharge and the ability to have a Client Status Report with both SC and CBS clients on it.

We discussed plans for the User Group for 2009 and decided to do another Survey Monkey for topic ideas for the coming year. This will be sent out to all Georgia agencies in January for everyone’s input. One idea that a lot of people were really interested in was to have each agency diagram and share their work flow from Intake through Discharge and how they use the system during the process. The group agreed to continue on the same schedule for 2009, by meeting at 2:00 p.m. on the second Thursday of the quarter. The 2009 meetings will be as follows: March 12th, June 11th, September 10th, and December 10th.

The second part of the meeting focused on the Revenue Maximization Module and Electronic Billing functionality. Trish announced that Kaleidacare is ready to resume testing for Electronic Billing to the three CMOs after making multiple enhancements to meet their requirements. Agencies also shared recent experiences they’ve had during APS audits and how the system can be helpful with these. Trish Murphy showed some recent Service Billing enhancements, especially the newly required Service Billing Fields on the Case Note/Session Log.

Many thanks to The Bridge for hosting this meeting. Mark your calendars now for the next meeting on Thursday, March 12th at 2:00 p.m. The location is tentative at this time. Announcements and directions will be sent out in advance to remind everyone.

Heather Rowles, the Executive Director of MAAC and Trish Murphy are the co-chairs of the Georgia User Group. For more information about these meetings, please contact Heather at (404) 880-9323 or hrowles@maac4kids.org or Trish at (404) 580-1142 or tmurphy@kaleidacare.com.

Customer Spotlight

Learning Lunches – All Church Home for Children, Fort Worth, Texas

The success of the many programs provided by All Church Home for Children is partially due to their long-standing and excellent reputation in the Fort Worth and surrounding communities. All Church Home understands the importance of establishing and growing its relationships with local businesses, community members, and all types of referral sources.

In 2003, All Church Home for Children began hosting a monthly “Learning Lunch” to inform and educate the community about the programs and services offered to children, youth, and families. The monthly lunches bring anywhere from 10 to 60 attendees ranging from retirees, interested volunteers, local business people, to staff from other agencies. All Church Home CEO, Wayne Carson, or the Vice President of Marketing, Barbara Clark-Galupi, provide a short presentation that includes the history of the organization, the problem the organization is trying to address and how the organization addresses it. The event also includes ample time for questions and a tour of the campus.

The monthly Learning Lunches are posted on the All Church Home website and board members, staff and volunteers are encouraged to invite friends, family and acquaintances.

Periodically, All Church Home hosts special lunches dedicated to informing and educating the referral community on how to access All Church Home services.

To date, more than 800 people have received an in-depth introduction to the All Church Home for Children. As a result of these learning lunches, All Church Home has significantly increased its donor and volunteer base, and has seen an increase in appropriate referrals to its programs.

All Church Home for Children (established in 1915) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting children from abuse, neglect and family separation and help children overcome these things when they do happen. Some ACH programs are dedicated to keeping children and families together, while other programs provide a healing home for those children unable to live with their families. ACH is a nondenominational organization that serves more than 3,000 children in nine counties annually.

Tips & Tricks:

Ten Ways to Start Your 2009 Off Right!

The end of a year and the beginning of a new year always brings the famous lists. KaleidaCare has developed our own top ten ways to start your 2009 off right:

10 - Add User Default Email Addresses and Phone Number
The Staff/Professional system default email address and phone number automatically pull into the Feedback tool. Please check to see if your staff have a correct system default email address and phone number.

9 - Don’t Forget 2008
In with the new and out with the old, except when searching for notes from December! Remember, the default date range on the system search filters is the first day of the current month to the current date. While most of the time users only need to change the month to pull the previous month’s note. In January, users will also need to change the year to 2008 to look for notes from last year.

8 - Quick Search on Case Note, Session Log, and Incident Log
The Quick Search Filter on the Case Note and Session Log will produce the last 5, 10, 25, 50, or 100 logs you wrote. The Incident Log Quick Search will produce the last 5 Incident Logs that you wrote.

7 - Check Your Settings
Check your Computer Settings. Whether you did this when KaleidaCare first started at your agency, sometime last year, or you can’t remember when, checking your settings is a good thing and it should be done regularly. Settings may return to their default after automatic updates, hardware upgrades, or software installation. The Browser Configuration document is always available to guide you in our User Manuals section.

6 - Don’t Forget User Manuals
Speaking of User Manuals, don’t forget to check them out! They are located on the tab at the top of your screen. We know sometimes it is more fun to figure things out on your own, but the User Manual can be your friend. We’ve re-organized these into several categories, so it’s easier to find what you need. We’re also in the process of updating them. Several manuals now feature indexes with hyper-links that take you directly to a section.

5 - Check Your Status
The Client Status Reports provide a host of reports that can answer those year-end data questions:

How many Referrals did we have last year and who made the most Referrals? (1/1/2008 to 12/31/2008; Status: Referred; Grouped By: Referral Source)

How many Discharges did we have last year and how many were successful? (1/1/2008 to 12/31/2008; Status: Discharged; Grouped By: Discharge Type)

How many clients were served in 2008 and which program served the most clients? (1/1/2008 to 12/31/2008; Status: Active Clients; Grouped By: Program)

4 - Use the “More Info” Button
Yeah, they are prettier, but they also provide helpful information. Click on the bright green “MORE INFO” icons located throughout the system to bring up a box with some helpful hints for that tool.

3 - Don’t Forget to Total
The Case Note, Session Log, Incident Log, and Diagnosis Logs have a Totals Report Format that provides a quick and powerful view of your data. The Case Note and Session Log Reports totals the Time Spent, Number of Occurrences, and Percentage of time for each Type of Contact. The Incident Log Report totals the number of incident selections. The Diagnosis Log Report totals the number of diagnosis for the specific time period.

2 - Change Can Be Good
A new year brings change (at least for awhile in some cases). This is a good time to review what you have been tracking and make changes. System Administrators can change the dropdown values so if you need to split out those 1,000 “Others” you have been using, you can change what you are tracking now. Use the Configuration Manager to change the dropdown values.

Agency Documents can be changed too. Make needed changes to your Agency Documents – you can re-name them, move them to a different menu section, or add a Next Due Date/Tickler. Go to Toolkits, > Agency Documents, >View. Search for the document you want, and click the Edit/pencil for that document. In the bottom left-hand corner of the template, click on the Edit/pencil beside the name of the document. This will bring you back to the first screen you see when you create an Agency Document and you can make these changes here.

1 - ONE IS A LONELY NUMBER, BUT IN THIS CASE IT IS THE ONLY NUMBER! -- Use Only One KaleidaCare Browser
KaleidaCare strongly recommends the following:

Users should have only ONE Internet Explorer Browser window open at any given time. This includes being logged into Solutions on two tabs of the same browser session. Using multiple browser sessions can create system errors when saving work.
While KaleidaCare Solutions will work on IE6 and has some limited functionality on other browsers, we only support Internet Explorer and strongly recommend upgrading to Version 7.
Users should not use the “Back Button” to move to previously viewed screens. The left hand menu and SAVE and CANCEL buttons are always available to navigate between tools.