Letter from the CEO

Discipline. Disciplined People. Disciplined Thought. Disciplined Action.
In “Good to Great,” Jim Collins wrote about the common experience of organizations that built themselves into greatness. He explained that there were no magic programs that sparked the transformation.  Collins identified discipline as the key characteristic. He wrote “A down-to-earth, pragmatic, committed-to-excellence process -- a framework -- kept each company, its leaders, and its people on track for the long haul. In each case, it was the triumph of the Flywheel Effect over the Doom Loop, the victory of steadfast discipline over the quick fix.”

Disciplined People
Here at KaleidaCare, we are endeavoring to follow this same wisdom.  As Collins wrote, it starts with disciplined people.  We’ve worked hard to build the right team here at KaleidaCare.  In the past eight months we have added a number of key people in the product development and customer support roles.  People with a passion for our work as a partner with child welfare organizations. People with proven abilities, teamwork skills and a commitment for the long term success of our customers.  One of our key strategic goals is to continue to attract the best talent into KaleidaCare as we attempt the audacious goal of widespread improvement in the child welfare system.

Disciplined Strategy
We are also disciplined about our strategy.  We are strongly focused on the needs of child welfare organizations.  We pass every decision through the filter of our mission : “To create a transformational improvement in the quality and efficiency of the child welfare system through technology enabled services such that children and families are measurably better served.”  We are choosing to be the leader in a narrowly defined segment of Health and Human Services.

Disciplined Action
We make it all work by being disciplined about our action.  We set clear expectations with customers and meet them.  We are clear about our deadlines for releasing new products.  We invest in long term solutions to support our technical development and our customer relationships.  We make smart use of accelerators such as the technology partnership that is allowing us to release the new online training tool, “KaleidaCare University.”

We know that it takes a long time to transform into an enduring and great organization, and that it is a journey, not a destination.  We do already see the Flywheel Effect working in our favor.  Fifteen (15) new customers have now joined KaleidaCare since the new leadership team took control, representing a 30% increase in our customer base.  Several major new capabilities have been added to our software solution. A new business services unit has been launched to help customers lower their administrative burden.

We believe that our software solution and services can enable your organization’s own continuing journey to greatness.  Our software solution will systematize the framework of discipline you choose to follow in your organization.  The consulting services of our implementation team will help you take advantage of the content already in our system that embodies the best practices of the child welfare community.  Our administrative tools help reduce costs and free up time to devote to a higher level of organizational performance. Our assessment, benchmarking and outcomes capabilities built with FFTA and Kay Hodges give you the ability to measure your progress. Our account managers and KaleidaCare University can help you build discipline of people and action.  Why don’t you call them and ask how they might help?  As we continue in our ongoing commitment to greatness, we want to partner with you.

  Alistair Deakin,
  CEO, KaleidaCare Management Solutions

Continued KaleidaCare Growth

In the last quarter, KaleidaCare continued its steady growth by adding five new child welfare agencies as customers.

KaleidaCare is excited to welcome back Partnership for Families, Children and Adults (Chattanooga, TN).  Due to state contracting changes, Partnership for Families, Children and Adults have begun to use KaleidaCare for their Youth Services Program, which includes approximately 100 clients in 4 Group Homes and Foster Care.  Overall, Partnership for Families, Children and Adults serve clients in over 20 programs that could all be tracked in KaleidaCare.

Generus Stepping Stones (Flowood, MS) will be the first state of the Meritan’s Stepping Stones organizations to implement KaleidaCare.  Then to follow will be Tennessee, Georgia and Arkansas.  Stepping stones is looking forward to having the ability to pull reports over all their offices and states as well as being able to view state specific service data from their home office.

Coming aboard as our newest Multi-Agency Alliance for Children (MAAC) member, is Twin Cedars, Youth Services, Inc. (LaGrange, GA).  Twin Cedars has offices in LaGrange and Columbus, Georgia.  Twin Cedars provides a variety of services, and its residential facilities offer specialized treatment for youth ages 7-18 who have experienced sexual abuse, trauma, severe emotional disturbances, and those exhibiting sexually aggressive behaviors. Prevention programs, team building ropes courses, youth leadership programs, summer camps, schools and education services, emergency shelters, therapeutic group homes, homes for teen mothers and babies, independent living services, and an outdoor therapeutic program are a part of Twin Cedar’s continuum of care.

Hillside, Inc. (Atlanta, GA) has been providing Intensive Psychiatric Treatment for residential clients since 1987.  Hillside currently has a 74 bed facility including an On Campus School, Greenhouse, Gymnasium, Pool and Ropes Course.  Among the Residential program services is a highly regarded Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for youth affected by Borderline Personality Disorder.  Hillside also serves children through their Therapeutic Foster Care Program, Community Intervention Program and Wraparound Services.

Lutheran Service of Georgia (Atlanta, GA) has five offices with a variety of services.  LSGA serves clients in Foster Care, Adoption, Refugee Resettlement, Disaster Response, Career Discover Youth Program and Disability Support for Adults.  Lutheran Service of Georgia is the second Lutheran organization to begin using KaleidaCare this year.  Lutheran Services of Georgia will be able to oversee and pull reports easily for the organization as a whole.

New KaleidaCare Solutions Capability

KaleidaCare continues to make improvements to the Solutions System as several enhancements have been made to the Case Note, Session Log, and Progress Log.

A new checkbox has been added to the entry screen for the Case Note and Session Log.  This checkbox will create separate records when more than one client is chosen.  This new feature will allow users to write a “group case note” with general information.  The records can then be edited to add specific client details. 

A Goal dropdown has been added to the Case Note, Session Log, and Progress Log.  This configurable field can be used to identify the primary goal being addressed during the service.  A Goal and Objective Textbox, located under Log Detail, is still available for additional detailed entry.

A Compressed Report has been added to the Medication Log.  This new report displays the Client’s Name, Medication Name, Dosage, Start Date/End Date, Type, and Prescriber.

Changes have been made to the Agency Document search and browse to increase ease of use.  The default start date on Agency Document Search Filter has been changed to the first day of the current month.  This provides consistency with other log search filters.  The Author’s Name has been added to all Agency Document browse screens.  This will allow for an easy sort by author once the search results have pulled into the browse screen.

Caregiver Name and Religion have been added as a data point to the Facility Listings Report.

Upcoming KaleidaCare Solutions Capability

There are several enhancements to Solutions that we are excited to announce will be released by end of summer:

E-Learning. KaleidaCare is launching its web-based ‘KaleidaCare University.’ Through KaleidaCare University, agencies’ can manage all their training and deliver it via the internet. This training can range from Continuing Education Units for your workers or ongoing Foster Parent Training.  Agencies will be able to run a report and see courses completed for agency staff and foster parents, as well as those courses scheduled and overdue. Thus, training compliance will be documented with ease.

Document Uploading & Retrieval. Our customers wanted the ability to scan and upload any document or image into KaleidaCare. Now they can attach these scanned documents to a client record and decide a user’s permissions to the file, for example who can view, delete and/or print the image. This puts an entire client record into a secure web-based environment. Our customers plan to use this functionality in different ways; birth certificates, photos, release forms, prescriptions, court documents, etc.

Foster Parent Payment Report. This is a report that will calculate, for a specified time period, the amount your foster parents should be paid. Agencies can decide their rate sequences and per diem rates. Thus, if a child’s rate or foster home changes, the report will reflect these differences. No need to calculate and determine the dates of entrance, transfers, discharge or sequence change; KaleidaCare automatically does it with a simple point-click report.

Georgia User Group July 2007

KaleidaCare users and prospective users from 9 Georgia agencies gathered together on July 19th.  The Georgia User Group meets on a regular basis to discuss how they are using KaleidaCare Solutions, with an emphasis on how to meet state requirements.  Many of the agencies have implemented the Revenue Maximization Module to help them with the recent changes requiring agencies to bill Medicaid directly for their services, and this was the main focus of this meeting.   Maat-Net Bell from Georgia Parent Support Network shared several documents that she has developed to help her staff as they learn this new part of the system.  Trish Murphy demonstrated some recent system enhancements, and several members of the KaleidaCare Management team and one of our Developers called in from Austin to provide an update on Service Billing/Electronic Billing enhancements.

Heather Rowles, the Executive Director of the Multi-Agency Alliance for Children (MAAC), is the organizer of the Georgia User Group.  For more information about these meetings, please contact Heather at (404) 880-9323 or hrowles@maac4kids.org.  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.  A special thanks to The Bridge for hosting this meeting.

Change in KaleidaCare User Group Structure

KaleidaCare has changed the format of the National User Groups and will not hold a second National User Group this fall.  KaleidaCare will have one National User Group each year, coupled with 4 Regional Trainings for a low cost.  This will allow for a larger community gathering at the National User Group.  Also, agencies will be able to send additional staff to the Regional Trainings for the reduced fees and travel costs.  KaleidaCare hopes this new format will better suit all agencies, regardless of size.

New Team Additions Increase Account Management Strength

Luanne Barr joins the KaleidaCare team bringing her experience working with a group of California social service agencies in developing and implementing a collaborative case management database.  This process helped her gain invaluable insight into the operations of a variety of social service agencies, as well as the impact technology was able to have in providing efficient and effective services to the children and families served.  Most recently, Luanne worked in administration in the public school system where she was involved in developing and monitoring accommodations for students with disabilities. Luanne’s professional career has encompassed 25 years in information systems and database implementation and management in a variety of industries.  While new to the world of foster care, she is excited to become involved in this important work.  Luanne and her family live in Austin, Texas where she is actively involved in her community, church and family life. 

Kim Hokanson is excited to join the KaleidaCare team this month.  She had served as the KaleidaCare System Administrator for Helping Hand Home for Children in Austin, Texas, where she had been employed for the past three years, one of which as direct care staff on Helping Hand's Girls' Unit.  Kim is very interested in the legislative and regulatory side of the system, and hopes to attend law school in the coming years.  Kim holds a B.A. from the University of Texas in Government and is currently in the final year of her Master's program at Austin Seminary.