CEO Letter
In the middle of this global crisis, I am holding fast to my experience, the education I gained at the London School of Economics, and the wisdom I learned from my grandfather. I believe the sum of this knowledge guides our business plan through this critical period:
- Slow and steady growth
- Apply common sense to all spending decisions
- Stay focused on our core competency
- Concentrate on how we are creating value for customers
I believe the economy will get a lot worse before it gets better. I believe that more children and families will be in need of services. And yet, I believe that the budgets of our customers are going to be tighter than ever.
This is a good time for all customers to make sure they are realizing the full potential of the investment they have already made into their KaleidaCare system. Do you know that we have tools and services that may help increase revenue and reimbursement rates? Do you know that your Account Manager has best practice knowledge that might help identify more efficient practices to create quality or lower costs? We are here to help. Talk with your Account Manager today about scheduling an Account Review to look at how you and your staff may be able to utilize more tools in the system you already own.
Alistair Deakin,
President & CEO
KaleidaCare National User Group
KaleidaCare firmly believes that we always have a great deal to learn from our customers. Our customers are the ones out there everyday working with clients, dealing with new policies and regulations, training staff and figuring out how to stretch an already thin budget. One way we do this every year is through KaleidaCare’s National Annual User Group. We are excited to announce that the next one will be held in KaleidaCare’s hometown of Austin, Texas, and the date has been set for April 22nd - 24th, 2009. Please mark your calendar and make plans to join us here in Austin. As the date gets closer, you will be getting more information about this exciting event.
One new way that we want to tap into our customer knowledge base is through our new On-Line Monthly User Group. This will be a group moderated by Chip Bolyard, Director of Account Management and Terra Brimberry, Director of Training. The first on-line meeting will be held on November 4th at 11:00 am (Central Time). Specific information about the agenda and how to call in will be sent to System Administrators and will be posted on the KaleidaCare homepage. The User Group will be done using a conference call line, and when needed, KaleidaCare will also set up a Webinar for everyone to access. All of our customer agency System Administrators will be invited to participate, and we will ask that they decide if there are others within their agency that they would like to attend as well.
It is KaleidaCare’s goal that the users define how this User Group will function, which is something that we will be discussing at the first meeting. Some ideas that we have had regarding how to utilize the User Group are as follows:
- Format for introducing new functionality
- Forum for customers to ask questions regarding the product of KaleidaCare as well as asking other customers
- Forum for soliciting customer feedback on decisions needing to be made on the product
- Arena for customers to share new requirements/regulations in their respective states.
- Forum for KaleidaCare to share product “tricks and tips”
Again, these are just ideas, and we want our customers to take ownership of this User Group and to make it something that is well worth their time for one hour each month. Be looking for more information on this to be coming your way and if you have any questions or thoughts in the meantime, don’t hesitate to call Terra Brimberry at 800-913-9883, ext. 203 or by email at tbrimberry@kaleidacare.com.
KaleidaCare’s New Customers
Faithworks! (Cedar Hill, Texas) joined KaleidaCare to manage their foster care services. Through Treatment Foster Care, Family Preservation Services, and Family Support Services, Faithworks! has already begun using KaleidaCare to track the clients they serve through their services.
United Methodist Children’s Home Alabama and West Florida (Selma, Alabama) has been serving children in need since 1890. Their current services include Residential Programs, Foster Care Programs, Family Preservation & Support Services, Adoptions, and Spiritual Life & Development. Through 15 offices UMCH of Alabama and West Florida will reduce the time and cost associated with multiple office with KaleidaCare.
Austin Children’s Shelter (Austin, Texas) will use KaleidaCare for case management for their short term emergency shelter. KaleidaCare will also be able to assist Austin Children’s Shelter as they look to open their new facilities. This will allow their number of beds to double as well as increase the services provided.
Buckhorn Children & Family Services (Buckhorn, Kentucky) provides services in Kentucky and Ohio. Buckhorn served over 700 clients last year though Treatment Foster Care, Residential Treatment, Family Preservation/Family Reunification, and Transitional Living. This COA accredited agency has over 12 locations that will be managed with KaleidaCare.
Recent Enhancements to KaleidaCare Solutions
KaleidaCare is always working to improve the customer experience and add functionality to the system. The following is a list of enhancements to the Case Management and Financial Tools that have recently been released. These enhancements are driven by customer feedback and best practices.
Case Management Tools
Facility Progress Log - Stages of Home Tracking Added to Facility Progress Log
In preparation for our Home Tracking Release we have added the Stages of Home Tracking – Inquiry Received, On-Hold Pre-Licensure, In Process, Terminated, Approved, On-Hold Corrective Action, Not Accepting, and Closed - to the Facility Progress Log. The stage is also a filter on the report.
Facility Add – CBS Programs
Community Based Programs have been added to the Facility Add Screen. This will allow agencies to associate a Facility with a CBS Program, like Adoption.
Medication Log – Prescription Number and Date Filled Added to Compressed Report
The Medication Prescription Number and Date Prescription Filled have been added to the Compressed Report for the Medication Log.
FFTA Benchmarking Tool
Formally called Functional Survey, this tool has been updated with recent FFTA Benchmarking Definition changes.
Education Tracking - Active Staff Filter
An Active/Inactive/Both Staff Filter has been added to the Education Tracking Reports for easier reporting filtering.
System Administration Report
A new report has been added to the System Administration Reports Tool that displays those users who have System Administrator Privileges. The report includes the Name, User ID Number, User Name, and Menu Assigned.
Zip Code Validation
When adding an address anywhere in the system you will now get a pop-up error and will not be able to save the screen if you do not enter either a 5 digit or a 9 digit zip code in the correct format of 12345 or 12345-6789. There were a lot of invalid zip codes on existing addresses in the system (not 5 or 9 digits in this format). These had to be brought into compliance with the new required standard. Existing zip codes with an invalid format had digits added, deleted, or were completely replaced by ‘00000’.
View All Reports Count Down
To improve reporting server productivity, an 8 second count down has been added to the View All Button. The View All Button will be available once the count down has completed. The 8 seconds allows all the records to properly load on the reporting server.
Enhanced Help Buttons
We’ve changed the look of our Help buttons throughout the system. These buttons are now green and slightly larger, making them easier to see. Help Buttons include: Event Tracking – Tracking Flow Charge, Staff Assignments – Types of Assignments, Validator Report – Validator Issues and Solutions, and Generate Bill – Printer and Margin Recommendations.
System Wide Maintenance Banner
To ensure all users are aware of import alerts (like system maintenance), we can now post a system-wide red banner at the top of all screens. We also have the ability to create a warning pop-up to alert users of an immediate system maintenance need. This will not only keep users informed of important information, but will reduce the number for KaleidaCare Emails to System Administrators.
Financial Tools
Required Service Billing Fields
Now if you if you check the Make Service Billable box, the Service Billing Fields (Location, Service, and Provider) will be required. If you forget to enter these, a pop-up box will remind you and you won't be able to save the log until these required fields are completed. If the Number of Units field is left blank, you will get a pop-up reminder, but you will have options to Cancel to go back and enter the Units or to click OK to save the log without them. This should help you reduce your number of Validator Errors!
Inactive Services
If you have made a Service Inactive, it will no longer appear as an option when adding a new log. The Service will remain on any previous reports and you will still be able to search by the Service for those logs.
Accounts Receivable
The A/R browse screen will now update the Status of the claim after you have performed a transaction.
Provider
There is a pop-up requiring that the Taxonomy Code and the NPI Number are entered in the correct format.
Client Payer Enhancements
Add New and Save buttons are now at the top of the screen, and the warning to click Save for only 1 Payer stands out more.
Authorization Enhancements
We have made a number or enhancements to the Authorization Tool.
- Add New and Done buttons are now at the top of the screen to avoid needing to scroll down when there are many Authorizations.
- New column for Payer has been added to more easily differentiate between Authorizations for different Payers.
- Units Used are now calculated for Pending and Billed Units (previously it was Billed Only). Note that logs with Validator Errors are not included in this number. Log must be Pending Coding Review #57 or Validated or Billed to be reflected here.
- The Start Date is now blank when you Add an Authorization to help avoid data entry errors.
Payer Privileges
We’ve also made a small change to this screen so that the Payer Category appears in the first column and the Payer appears in the second column so that it’s a little easier to review.
Validator Error #68 for Amerigroup Electronic Bills
The Location on the log cannot have a Location Type of 99 – Other Place of Service or you will receive this error for Amerigroup Electronic Bills only.
Validator Error #99 for Electronic Bills to Cenpatico, Superior Health, and Integrated Mental Health Services
The default address selected on the Billing Provider tool must contain a 9-digit zip code for Electronic Bills to these Payers or you will receive this error.
Auto Post Contractuals
There is now an option on the procedure code setup to specify whether or not to automatically post contractual adjustments for the specified reimbursement. If this option is selected, on generation of an initial bill, the system will automatically post the calculated contractual adjustment (difference between gross charge and expected payment) to Accounts Receivable.
Provider Tool, and Subscriber Information on the Client Payer Tool no longer Locked
These tools will no longer be locked and will now be accessible to view or edit, even if you have created bills using them. In the past these were locked as a precaution to prevent changes from causing issues on the bills.
No Authorization Number Required
There is a new checkbox on the Authorization Tool labeled No Authorization Required. When you check this box, the Authorization Number field disappears. This enhancement is useful for situations where a Payer allows you a certain number of units/visits without an Authorization, but then requires you to obtain an Authorization for subsequent units/visits. This allows you to keep track of the units/visits without having to enter an Authorization Number or enter a “dummy” number which would appear on your paper or electronic bill.
General Ledger Numbers
General Ledger Number Fields have been added to track receivables and revenue. The fields have been added to Payer Category, Payer Tools, and the Service and Procedure Codes Tools. The Payer Category and Service numbers are the default if a number is not added at the Payer or Procedure Code level. The GL Numbers pull into the AR Tool and the AR Detail Report.
Service Active/Inactive
There is now an Active/Inactive radio button on the Service tool. The search on the Service tool also allows you to search for only Active Services or to Show Inactive as well.
We also completed additional enhancements that you will not notice on your end, but which allow us to build in some additional important functionality now and in the future.
NPI Number – Entry Screen Validation
Validation functionality has been added to the NPI Number on the Provider Tool. The NPI Number must be 9 to 10 digits and must start with a 1 or 2. The field will be checked for these requirements before the screen can be saved.
Georgia User Group
The most recent Georgia User Group was another success. The Quarterly meeting was held on September 11th, and sixteen people from eleven agencies participated. We reviewed some questions about Agency Document Ticklers and reminded people how they can make use of this new feature. Members shared ways they have utilized the Locking feature for documents, and other ways they have used the system to monitor compliance with regulations and for best practices. One agency, Multi-Agency Alliance for Children (MAAC), discussed how they have been enjoying the Document Storage module. Agencies were encouraged to submit their ideas for topics for the next meeting. Previous main topics have included Continuous Quality Improvement and Treatment Plans/Individual Service Plans Service Plan in Kaleidacare.
As usual, the second part of the meeting focused on the Revenue Maximization Module and Electronic Billing functionality. Attendees had a very productive and interactive exchange regarding their agency’s work flow with this module. They also shared recent experiences they’ve had during APS audits, including items such as timeliness of documentation, and how that can be verified in KaleidaCare. Trish Murphy showed some upcoming Service Billing enhancements and asked the group for their input.
The group would like to thank Creative Community Services for hosting this meeting. Mark your calendars now for the next meeting on Thursday, December 4th at 2:00 p.m. Please note that it is being held on the first Thursday of the month rather then the second as usual. The location is tentative at this time. Announcements and directions will be sent out in advance to remind everyone. We will look at planning our 2009 calendar at the December meeting, among other things.
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
Multi-Agency Alliance for Children (MAAC): A Unique Collaborative
MAAC is a collaborative of eight non-profit behavioral healthcare providers in Georgia. They work together to create a continuum of care for children and their families, with services including behavioral aide support, assessments, intensive psychiatric care, adoption, residential group home, therapeutic foster care, maternity care and much more. MAAC was originally established in 1996 when six agencies had a vision of working together to coordinate a full range of services across multiple agencies.
MAAC draws on the expertise and specialties of each agency and shares their resources for the benefit of the youth they serve. For example, a youth may live in one agency’s group home and go to a Foster Home for respite at another agency each month. The MAAC clinical team includes one member from each agency and they meet weekly (twice a month by phone and twice a month in person) to discuss clients in need. A main focus is on helping youth who need to utilize a service at another agency or to transition from one agency to another. MAAC team members work together to coordinate and simplify this process as much as possible. Despite this, referrals and intake still involved lots of faxing of required documents from one agency to another. MAAC wanted a way to make this easier for everyone involved.
Last November, MAAC started using our new Document Storage and Retrieval module. Like everything MAAC does, they are using this functionality in a unique way. They uploaded all of their clients’ intake paperwork, assessments, birth certificates, and other important documents as PDFs and gave each member of the MAAC Clinical team a login to the MAAC KaleidaCare system so they could easily access the documents they needed. 6 of the 8 MAAC agencies were already using KaleidaCare, so the system was familiar to them even if the Document Storage feature was not. They also scan in their consent forms so they are available as they share information. If a youth needs to move to a respite, psychiatric hospital, or other emergency placement the information can be accessed quickly and efficiently so emergencies are not delayed or worsened by paperwork lags. MAAC reports that the agencies love the new streamlined process. Their advice to anyone who is interested in the Document Storage module is to start by uploading the documents as new clients are admitted, and then gradually add them for your current clients.
MAAC been a customer of KaleidaCare since October 2002. To learn more about MAAC and their unique approach to serving youth and their families, visit their website at www.maac4kids.org
MAAC also has a very interesting GA EmpowerMEnt Group and a Youth Advisory Board (YAB), but we’ll have to save those for another feature!
MAAC Agencies include:
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