CEO Letter

Preparing for Growth

The first quarter in 2008 was a very positive beginning to the year for KaleidaCare.  We strengthened the team, the product and our infrastructure.  The improvements continue to bear fruit. Five more customers have signed up to join our community of users.  As the immortal “A Team” leader once said, “I love it when a plan comes together.”

In anticipation of continued growth, we are making some substantial investments into the company.  New hardware to improve performance and add redundancy in case of system failure was added to our network.  An entirely new development environment to mirror the “live” customer system was added to improve our ability to build and release new  software modules.  Software to monitor every aspect of our system has been installed, allowing us to track performance of all equipment, and to give us metrics about the customer experience and benchmark KaleidaCare against the best companies on the internet.  We hired a new Support Specialist to provide help with customer support and testing of new functions.  And, perhaps most importantly, we hired a new senior executive to focus on upgrading our training capabilities.  A great customer experience requires us to keep improving the hardware, the software, and the human support as a comprehensive system.

There is still much room for improving every aspect of our company as we continue on our path to serve the community of child welfare agencies.  We have aggressive plans for growth that will enable us to leave a more powerful legacy of positive change.  We appreciate all the ways our customers hold us accountable for our role in the partnership.  Let us know how we can help you in any way.

  Alistair Deakin,
  President & CEO

KaleidaCare Annual National User Group

KaleidaCare is very excited about our upcoming Annual National User Group.  This year’s event is being held outside of Atlanta, GA on May 7th – 9th, and it is not too late to sign up.  This User Group will be substantially different from the regional trainings that are also scheduled for this year.  While some training opportunities will be offered, there will also be a variety of speakers and presentations.  This will be a wonderful opportunity to learn from the experts from KaleidaCare, from other customers and from outside presenters.  Here is just a glimpse of what to expect:

• Official unveiling of KaleidaCare's powerful new feature that will generate revenue for your organization
• Sneak Preview of the Next Generation of KaleidaCare Solutions, including new reporting capabilities and navigation
• Sign Up to meet personally with KaleidaCare Account Management and Development Staff
• Learn tricks and tips from the experts at KaleidaCare and your fellow users in other agencies
• Free In-Depth Training on Reporting and Agency Documents
• KaleidaCare will pay for a night of good food and entertainment at Eddie's Attic, the best acoustic music venue in Atlanta - the venue that launched John Mayer / Shawn Mullins / Indigo Girls, etc...

To learn more about the National User Group, contact your Account Manager for details and an agenda, or email Terra Brimberry at tbrimberry@kaleidacare.com.  To register online, click the “Event Registration” button on our web site. Our Early Bird pricing ends on April 12th, so don’t wait too long, and don’t forget to ask about our “Three is Good But Four is Better” pricing discount.

We look forward to seeing you there!  We guarantee that this is an event that you will not want to miss.

New Customers added in Q1

5 New KaleidaCare Agencies
The community of child welfare agencies supported by KaleidaCare continues to increase.

Mission Road Ministries (San Antonio, Texas) is very proud to be an agency that has more than 60 years of recognizing persons with mental retardation for their potential, not their limitations.  Mission Road has begun to implement their Children’s Services, which includes residential programming and foster care.  KaleidaCare is honored to be a part of an agency that does such wonderful work with an underserved population.

Boys Haven of America (Beaumont, Texas) joins KaleidaCare through an AT&T Technology Grant.  Boys Haven is another “60 years of services” agency, reaching over 1,500 boys since its inception.  With a 36 bed residential treatment facility, the agency will be able to better manage their abundance of paperwork and pull valuable reports.  Welcome Aboard!

Unity Children’s Home (Houston, Texas) serves the Houston area through a residential facility and foster care.  Unity begins Implementation mid-April and will be able to begin their electronic documentation shortly thereafter.  KaleidaCare welcomes you!

Cruse Medical Care (Lawrenceville, Georgia) is an agency that is a CORE provider.  This means that Cruse will use KaleidaCare to electronically bill these CORE Medicaid services.  KaleidaCare is excited to support Cruse Medical Care throughout their upcoming growth and to help manage their unique billing.

A World for Children (Round Rock, Texas) has decided to move from their own custom built database to KaleidaCare.  We are very excited to help A World for Children manage their 950 Foster Care clients in 10 offices throughout the state.  They will be critical to the information gathering we are doing to support Outcomes Data as we emerge as the leader in Texas with a technology system that provides data to support legislative and licensing changes, as well as funding for Texas foster children.

Recent Enhancements to KaleidaCare Solutions

KaleidaCare has made a number of enhancements during the last quarter.  This is a list of the most noteworthy.  If you have any questions on the changes, please contact your Account Manager.

Highlighted Enhancements

Events

New Functionality - A new tool has been added to the Administration Category.  This tool allows the following Client Tracking Functionality:

View – This tool allows the user to Edit, Lock, Unlock, and/or Delete Client Tracking Events for multiple clients from the same Browse Screen.  This will also allow for a user to Lock All Events from a previous month or any time frame.  The report filter includes Date Range, Client, Program, and Status.

Lock/Unlock Time Frames – This tool allows the user to Lock and/or Unlock Client Tracking Events for a program and status (including all statuses) over a time period.  It can be used to prevent users from making any changes to a previous month’s tracking.  User’s are prevented from saving the event if the time period has been locked, until it is unlocked.  The Locking and Unlocking Permissions are separated to allow for greater functionality.  The report filter includes Date Range, Client, Program, and Status.

Document Storage Module

Separate Permissions – Individual permissions for Upload, Download, and Delete can now be given to a user.  These permissions can also be given in any grouping as well.  For more information about the Document Storage Add-On Module, please contact your Account Manager.

Email Notification

Client Tracking Email Notifications – Client Tracking Email Notifications can now be added for Direct Client-Staff Assignments.  The Client Tracking Email Notification can be set up for a specific program or all programs and a specific status, all statuses, or any combination.  Users may also use a custom message to be part of the email notification.

Case Note/Session Log

Outcomes Added on Compress Report Format – The Outcome field now pulls into the Case Note and Session Log Compressed Report.  This will allow for better Service Delivery Outcome tracking.

Social Service Worker & Clinical Professionals - Social Service Workers and Clinical Professionals have been added to the Worker Field on the Case Note.

Billable Units - Billable Units have been added to the Case Note and Session Log compressed report format.

Additional Enhancements

Progress Log

Client Name Added to Totals Report – The client(s) name has been added to the Totals Report.

Level of Care

Author Added to Compressed Report – The Author of the Level of Care Record has been added to Level of Care Compressed Report.

Client Status Report

Religion Data Point – Religion has been added as a data point to the Client Status Report.  This data point will assist with Accreditation Reporting.

Waiting List Data Point Added for CBS Programs – CBS Flag Deferral on Waiting List Data Point has been added to the Community Based Services Deferral Report for Individuals and Families.  This new feature will show True if the Client has been Wait Listed.

New Report Filtering Feature – A new “pop up/appear” feature has been added to the Client Listing Filter.  Those report features that are Type or Status specific will only appear when the Type or Status has been selected.  For Family Type and Active Status Report will show the Show Family Members Per Family ONLY Checkbox.  For the Substitute Care Discharge Status the Show Placements Per Discharge Checkbox will appear.

Staff/Professional Listings Report

Religion Data Point – Religion has been added as a data point to the Staff/Professional Listings Report.  This data point will assist with Foster Parent Religion Accreditation Reporting.

Facility Listings Report

New Reordered Data Points – Two additional data points have been added to the Facility Listing Report.  Caregivers with Ethnicity Re-Ordered and Caregivers with Religion Re-Ordered have been added to displace the value before the caregiver’s name to assist with sorting when the report is downloaded to Excel.

Revenue Maximization Module

Accounts Receivable Search Filter - We have released an enhancement to the search filter for the A/R to provide you with more flexibility in refining your search and locating specific types of claims. Users are now able to search for claims by one or more of the following options: All Open Claims; All Claims; Pending Electronic Billing; Billed and Open; Billed; Open, Ready to Bill Again; Paid; Rebilled and Open; Balance Billed and Open; and Credit Balances

Validator Error Report Enhancements – Sort by Last Name and Sort by Date of Service have been added to the report format.  Ignore Coding Review (Error 57) checkbox has been added to the report filter.

Client Payer – The Active Date on the Client Payer is now defaulting to a blank field instead of preloading with the current date.

For more information about the Revenue Maximization Add-On Module, please contact your Account Manager.

System Administration

User Name Added to Menu Manager Report – The individual’s user name now appears on the Menu Manager Report. This report, found under Menu Manager, displays which users and their user name are associated with the particular menu.

Agency Documents

Agency Document Dropdown Creator/Delete Dropdowns & Dropdown Values – System Administrators can now delete a Dropdown Value or an entire Dropdown.

Family-Facility Tools

Removing Family-Facility Relationships – A delete function has been added to the Facility Family Tool.  This will allow users to remove or delete the Family-Facility Relationship.

HIPAA/Security Feature

Masking Client Social Security Numbers - Client Social Security Numbers have been changed to a “XXX-XX-1234 format on Agency Documents, Face Sheets, and Information Reports to protect this sensitive information.

Logout Date & Time – The User’s Logout Date and Time have been added to the System Administration Login Report.  This report now displays the Users’ Login Date and Time, Logout Date and Time, and Computer IP Address.  The Logout Date and Time is being capture if the user clicks on the Logout Button or closes the Internet Explorer Broswer.

Performance Improvement

New Contact Throttle – A Throttle Tool has been added to our Contacts Tools (Referral Sources, Schools) to allow users to choose between 20, 50, 100, 500, or 1000 records.  This new feature will load large numbers of contacts quicker.

Increased Viewable Records – The number of viewable records have been increase for these Revenue Maximization Reports: View Deposits, Generate Bills, and A/R Report.

Georgia Happenings

Georgia Chapter FFTA Meeting – In last quarter’s newsletter we featured FFTA’s Benchmark TFC! Project.  This is an established, national outcomes project designed to identify national benchmarks for Treatment Foster Care.  The Georgia Chapter of FFTA invited Lynn Castrianno, Ph.D, Benchmark TFC! Project Director and Trish Murphy to attend their January meeting in Atlanta to discuss this project.  Lynn gave a power point demonstration to explain how the information is gathered, compiled, and used to show comparative data in agencies across the country.  Agencies who participate receive quarterly reports showing how their outcomes compare to the national aggregate for agencies in the project. Trish showed how easy it is for agencies that are using Kaleidacare to participate in the project since they are generally already entering the majority of the data that is needed.  Sally Buchanan, Executive Director of Creative Community Services, stated how useful this type of data can be in demonstrating the benefit of Therapeutic or Specialized Foster Care to funding sources and state leaders.

For more information on the FFTA Benchmark TFC! Project please contact Lynn Castrianno, Project Director, at lcastrianno@cox.net or Melissa Cole, FFTA Administrator, at mcole@ffta.org.

For questions about entering the data into KaleidaCare Solutions, please contact your Account Manager and consult the instructions on the KaleidaCare Solutions Home Page.  If you are interested in having a Kaleidacare representative attend your local FFTA Chapter, please contact your Account Manager.

Georgia User Group – The Georgia User Group held its quarterly meeting on March 13th.  Eighteen users from 12 agencies attended.  The group had participated in an on-line survey several weeks beforehand and the most requested topic was Continuous Quality Improvement.  Two agencies that have been using Kaleidacare for a long time showed some examples of how they have been using the system to gather and report on CQI data.  Sarah Ziegler from CHRIS Kids showed how she creates a variety of reports including those on the timeliness of entering notes, aggregate CAFAS scores, and clinician’s productivity.  After extracting information from the system she uses Excel to create graphs that illustrate the data.  Cathy Pallon from Creative Community Services showed how she uses the system to provide workers and supervisors with a list of upcoming Health Care Logs Due Dates.  She also pointed out that she has used the FFTA Benchmarking Functional Survey to gather the number of previous placements a client has had.  Trish Murphy highlighted some recent system enhancements and new modules in the system, and described some items on the 2008 Roadmap.  There was also some discussion about the Revenue Maximization Module and Electronic Billing functionality, which is helping agencies bill ACS and APS directly for their services.

The group would like to thank Hillside for hosting this meeting and providing refreshments.  Mark your calendars now for the next meeting on Thursday, June 13th at 2:00 p.m. at Lutheran Service of Georgia in midtown Atlanta.  We will have several agencies share their Treatment Plans/Individual Service Plans, since this was the second most requested topic to focus on.  Announcements and directions will be sent out in advance to remind everyone.  Future meetings are planned for September 11th and December 4th.

Heather Rowles, the Executive Director of the Multi-Agency Alliance for Children (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.  For more information about starting a User Group in your state, please contact Chip Bolyard at 512-219-8025 ext. 228 or cbolyard@kaleidacare.com.

Customer Spotlight

Jonathan’s Place: A High-Tech Trend Setter

Since 1994, Jonathan’s Place has been providing emergency shelter for abused, abandoned and neglected children in North Texas.  In 2006, Jonathan’s Place extended their continuum of care for children in need by implementing their Foster & Adoptive Family Program.  The mission at Jonathan’s Place is to “provide quality residential care and specialized services for at-risk children, while striving to create a home that is comfortable, loving and nurturing” and their work is largely funded by private donations from the within the community.

In an effort to increase their donor base and to attract a different demographic of donors, Jonathan’s Place is taking their message to the web. While you may have thought that Facebook, YouTube and eBay were not traditional avenues for a non-profit to spread their message, Jonathan’s Place is demonstrating otherwise. They have joined the Facebook community to provide a forum for their current supporters to share information and to pass the word to other interested family, friends, and coworkers.  YouTube now hosts a powerful video that spotlights the incredible need in Dallas County and the place of hope provided at Jonathan’s Place.  Jonathan’s Place is also exploring registration as a non-profit on eBay, which will even further expand their presence on the web and attract potential donations from the millions who sell on eBay daily. 

Want to learn more?  Visit either Facebook (www.facebook.com) or YouTube (www.youtube.com) and search "Jonathan's Place". For easier access, use the links below to go directly to their information:

www.facebook.com/pages/Dallas-TX/Jonahtans-Place/10385452116
www.youtube.com/jonathansplace

Jonathan’s Place has been a customer of KaleidaCare since November 2004 and has placed and tracked over 1,400 children through their shelter.  To learn more about Jonathan’s Place and their powerful work, visit their website at www.jpkids.org

KaleidaCare Surveys

I recently read a quote by Francis Bacon that said "A prudent question is one-half of wisdom."  Given that I was in the middle of putting together two KaleidaCare surveys, I thought the quote was applicable.  As your service provider, KaleidaCare can only grow wiser if we ask questions of you, our customer.  I know surveys can seem tedious, and I know that you are busy, but I ask that you put aside a few minutes to answer our questions and provide some valuable feedback.  Who better to help us fine tune our customer service and product offerings?

If you are a System Administrator, be on the lookout in your email for two different KaleidaCare Surveys. The first survey will go out to all of our customer agencies, and will be a general Customer Satisfaction survey.  The second one, however, will be sent only to customers who have implemented within the past year, and will be an evaluation of the KaleidaCare Implementation process.  I know it will be tempting to put it aside or click the delete button, but I ask that you reconsider, and help KaleidaCare grow wiser.

New Support Specialist & Director of Training Added to KaleidaCare Team

KaleidaCare Management Solutions is proud to announce two additions to our team.  Terri Black joined the KaleidaCare team at the beginning of March as the Customer Support Specialist.  Terri brings years of experience and a very unique view to KaleidaCare as a previous System Administrator for one of our customers in Texas. “I’m excited to learn this side of the system; there is a lot more to the system than I previously used. I look forward to helping customers”, Terri said about her new position.  Terri and her family reside in Austin, Texas where she is actively involved in her church and family life.

KaleidaCare is pleased to announce the addition of a new Director of Training, Terra Brimberry, LMSW.  Terra’s duties will be focused on proactive measures to improve the customer experience, such as: Upgrading user manuals, managing the online KaleidaCare University ™ product, managing all training for both customers and staff, and working with the support and implementation teams to engage in a continuous improvement cycle.  Terra, a masters level social worker, brings over 25 years of experience in social services and software management and support, including 3 years at KaleidaCare when she managed the Account Management team.  Terra states, “It’s great to be back as part of the KaleidaCare management team.  I’m excited about the direction that KaleidaCare is heading.  This team is dedicated to providing excellent customer service, support and training, with a firm foundation in industry best practices."