CEO Letter

Preparing for Growth

I recently read an excellent book on change management:  “The Heart of Change,” by John Kotter and Dan Cohen.  I have been working on adapting the lessons for KaleidaCare, as we try adapt to our rapid growth and need to simultaneously increase our speed and our quality.  But I believe it is directly relevant to the challenges our customers face adopting new software and embracing the outcomes and data driven management practices that Solutions supports. We are incorporating the lessons into our implementation and training strategy, and you may well be hearing elements of the lessons from your account managers at KaleidaCare.

The key lessons from the books are as follows:

• Create a sense of urgency so that people start telling each other “Let’s go, we need to change things!”  The more people think that change is a low priority or that if they wait it out, the management team will adopt a different new priority soon, the more likely it is that change won’t happen.  Jim Collins, in “Good to Great,” talks about a flywheel of momentum.  It’s hard to move at first, but the harder you push at the beginning, the more the flywheel starts to work with you rather than against you.  Pushing slowly at the beginning increases the likelihood that change will just be too hard and wear people down.

1. Pull together a guiding team powerful enough to guide a big change.  It is important that the team represent different levels of the organization.

1. Create clear, simple, uplifting visions and sets of strategies.  I struggle with a tendency to make the vision and strategy too complicated.  A simple vision that communicates the importance of the change, and a strategy that every person in the organization can recite and understand is critical.

1. Communicate the vision through simple, heartfelt messages sent through multiple channels so that people begin to buy into the change.  Not just big speeches at the beginning – but constant reminders in lots of little ways help align the team.

1. Empower people by removing obstacles to the vision.  There is nothing more destructive than big speeches about how important an activity is, and then not allocating the resources accordingly, or not giving the person in charge the authority to make the change happen.

1. Create short-term wins that provide momentum.  In the software implementation world, this could mean finding a couple of burdensome administrative tasks that software can resolve, rather than prioritizing the collection of new data that might add to the workload of staff.  The quicker that staff and management see some benefits, even if they are not the most significant benefits, the easier it is to get the team behind the project.

1. Maintain momentum so that wave after wave of change is possible.  Ride one win into the next one.

1. Make change stick by nurturing a new culture.  Encourage people.  Line up financial and career incentives.  Hire people who are excited about the work of change.  Publicize the wins, and the benefits as they are realized.  It is always a journey more than a destination.

Changing core practices and changing a culture takes a tremendous amount of energy and patience.  Perfection at any point of time is not possible, but commitment to continuous improvement is possible.  We are committed to creating an exciting and high quality organization at KaleidaCare.  We are committed to your success.

Upon reading this email, the first person to email their account manager to ask about the Heart of Change will receive two copies: One for them personally and one for their Executive Director.

Your partner in change,
  Alistair Deakin,
  President & CEO

KaleidaCare forms Customer Advisory Council

KaleidaCare is creating a Customer Advisory Council to help guide the future functionality of the Solutions Product.  The KaleidaCare Customer Advisory Council will meet each quarter to provide feedback on functionality, review future development plans, and act as a “sounding board” for other company projects.  The group will also serve as beta testers for new releases.

The Customer Advisory Council will represent a wide range of the company’s customer base.  Several customers have expressed interest in severing on the council and KaleidaCare will be extending an invitation to several others to round out the group.  The council will hold its first meeting this quarter.

“We are looking forward to working with a small group of agencies,” said Alistair Deakin, KaleidaCare President/CEO.  “While we will always want feedback from every customer about the software and company, the Customer Advisory Council will give us a good size workgroup to really dig in and help our Account Management and Development Teams gain insight on system use and future development projects.”

Watch for Customer Advisory Council updates in future newsletters.

New KaleidaCare Community

Houston Galveston Institute (Houston, TX) became a part of KaleidaCare’s community through a grant.  Houston Galveston Institute was founded in 1977 and is internationally recognized for its innovative contributions to the advancement of theory, psychotherapy, practice, and research, and to the development of creative contexts for learning, practice, and research.  Houston Galveston Institute offers therapy and consultation services for all age groups including individuals, couples, families, and groups.

Brightside for Families and Children (West Springfield, MA) is KaleidaCare’s newest Northeastern customer.  With their residential facilities and on campus school, Brightside is a therapeutic milieu that provides treatment for children with psychiatric, learning, emotional, and behavioral difficulties and their families.  Besides their wonderful services, Brightside also is able to offer a wonderful campus to its clients with an Olympic sized swimming pool, basketball courts and a baseball field.

Project Adventure (Covington, GA) is a residential program for displaced and homeless Georgia youth that incorporates adventure, academics and counseling in a structured group environment.  Thorough a short term emergency shelter, residential treatment, an independent living program, and soon an on campus school, Project adventure is able to help kids see their value and use these possibilities so they can be their best.  Project Adventure will also be using KaleidaCare to electronically bill their services provided.

Recent Enhancements to KaleidaCare Solutions

KaleidaCare is constantly adding to and improving Solutions.  These case management and financial tool enhancements are driven by customer feedback and best practices.  We have also spent considerable time this quarter implementing some infrastructure improvements.

Case Management Enhancements

Agency Document Next Due and Tickler

In June we released the "Next Due Date" functionality on Agency Documents through the Agency Document Toolkit.  In an effort to meet a wide range of needs for this functionality, we have included the ability to have the Next Due Date entered by the user or auto-calculated based on criteria (Number of Days, Weeks, Months or Certain Day of the Week) set through the Toolkit.  This new process also involves marking an agency document as "completed" when a new document is created.

For client, staff, facility or family based Agency Documents, users have the ability to search by Next Due Date so you can monitor which documents are coming due.  Client and facility based Agency Documents with a next due date will also create a reminder on the Tickler Report for staff who have a direct assignment to the related client or facility.

Adding Client/Individuals

Primary Ethnicity has been added to the Client/Individual Add Screen.  This will allow agencies to easily add primary demographic information in one location.  The Primary Ethnicity and other demographics can be edited on the Client/Individual Basic Information Screen.

Diagnosis Log Enhancements

The Most Current Type is now the default selection on the Diagnosis Log Evaluation Type.  This will help ensure that the most current diagnosis will pull into Agency Documents, Face Sheets, and Information Reports.

The Modified Global Assessment of Functioning - Revised (M-GAF) Score Description has been added as a hyperlink to the Diagnosis Log.

Client Listings

All nine data points that were worded “Placed Children” now pull in both children and adults and are now titled “Placed Clients” to accommodate our agencies who work with adult populations.

Document Storage

The Upload Date has been added on the listing of documents.

Financial Enhancements

Accounts Receivable Enhancements

• Search by Service Date or Bill Date on the AR Filter
• Search for Electronic Submissions by Batch Number on the AR Filter
• Filter by Aging Time Period.  The report can be filtered by a single time period, multiple time periods, or all time periods
• Sort by Client Last Name on the AR Report
• Expanded Number of Claims per Report
• Ability to Post Negative Balances on AR Tool

Charge Bundling on CMS Invoices

Multiple procedure codes provided for the same date and client are now bundled on a single CMS 1500.

Service Overlap Override

An “Allow service to overlap” radio button has been added to the Service Tool.  This overrides Validator Error 24 – This Service Overlaps with Another Service for the Same Client.

Case Note/Session Log – Minimum Two Minute Length

Case Notes and Session Logs which have “Make Service Billable” checked now require a minimum two-minute duration.  This will prevent Validator Error 34 - Billable Service must be 2 Minutes on the Case Note and Session Log Entry.

Service Label on Client Contract Association

The Service Label has been added to the Rate Sequence drop-down on the Client Contract Association Tools on the Client Menu.  This is part of the Per Diem Contract Tool.

Internal Enhancements

KaleidaCare has devoted considerable time and resources this quarter to improving the infrastructure of KaleidaCare Solutions.

In May, we upgraded our database software to SQL 2005.  Among other advantages that support the future improvements planned for the system, this newer version provides us with enhanced capabilities that allow us to monitor and improve system performance and gives us the underpinnings of our new reporting system that will include significantly expanded Ad Hoc reporting capability and presentation / export options.  To fully take advantage of the new capabilities, we acquired an additional server and multiple high speed drives to be dedicated for reporting.  Beginning in June, all reports are now pulling from this new server which has a positive impact on performance on the main data server.

Georgia User Group

Nineteen people from ten agencies attended the quarterly Georgia User Group on June 12th.  Two agencies showed how they had created their Treatment Plans/Individual Service Plans Service Plan in Kaleidacare.  Earlier this year, the group completed an on-line survey and this was the second most requested topic to focus on.  Last quarter we featured Continuous Quality Improvement, which was the most requested topic.  Amy White from Hillside showed their Foster Care Treatment Plan and Review, and shared the feedback they had received from the State Provider Relations Unit on the form.  Twilynn Jourdain and Angela Burrow from The Bridge showed the Treatment Plan they had modeled after the MICP for their CORE program.  Trish Murphy demonstrated the recent Agency Document Tickler enhancement.  The last part of the meeting focused on the Revenue Maximization Module and Electronic Billing functionality, including the upcoming changes in Georgia.

The group would like to thank Lutheran Services of Georgia for hosting this meeting and providing refreshments.  Mark your calendars now for the next meeting on Thursday, September 11th at 2:00 p.m. at Creative Community Services in Norcross.  Announcements and directions will be sent out in advance to remind everyone.  The final meeting in 2008 will be held on 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

Can online donations work for you?

Nearly all of KaleidaCare’s customers have developed their own agency websites which help spread the word about their history and the work they are doing.  Several of our non-profit customers have begun taking advantage of a relatively new trend that allows them to accept donations online through their website.  KaleidaCare contacted a few of those customers to find out how that ability is working for them:

Tim Hart, IT Director at New Horizons, Inc. indicates that while their online donation tool did not generate substantial dollars in and of itself, the benefits are still worthwhile.  “... Our direct contact with the online donors has led to much larger gifts. Most people who give want to give and talk to a human and then give larger amounts. The advantage (for us) is not the initial gift but the contact information.”

New Horizons is a multi-service, nonprofit agency that provides an integrated system of care and services for children, youth, and families that is relationship driven and clinically enhanced. Learn more about New Horizons at www.newhorizonsinc.com

Presbyterian Children’s Home and Services Vice President of Finance, Linda Bishop indicates that their online donation program has been very successful, leading to an “increase in giving online on a more continual basis.”  She believes that this is partly due to internet users becoming more and more comfortable with online giving in general.

Presbyterian Children’s Homes and Services headquartered in Austin, Texas fulfills its mission to provide Christ-centered services to children in need and their families through four main programs: Group Homes, Foster Care, Child and Family and Advanced Education/Aftercare.  Learn more about PCHAS at www.pchas.org

Paul Radabaugh, MIS Director at Specialized Alternatives for Families and Youth (SAFY) says they use an online system both for donations and for event registrations that require payment.  SAFY will be moving their online donation process to Network for Good (www.networkforgood.org) which is specifically designed to collect donations for charitable organizations and will help SAFY by providing useful reports and collecting valuable data on donors.  According to Paul, one of the key features that Network for Good provides is the ability for a donor to set up a recurring donation to an organization of their choice.

Founded in 1984, Specialized Alternatives for Families and Youth believes that every child is entitled to a caring and stable living environment. Many children in our nation are abused, neglected and victimized and left without loving parents to care for them. SAFY focuses on these difficult-to-place children, by helping to provide stable homes in order that they may grow into healthy and happy adults.  Learn more about SAFY at www.safy.org

KaleidaCare Survey Update

June 2008

Thank you to everyone who responded back to the KaleidaCare Customer Satisfaction Survey. We can’t say enough how important your feedback is to us, and we hope you don’t feel that you have to wait for a survey to let us know how you are doing.  We are always open to hearing from you about what we need to improve on, as well as hearing about what we do well.  Congratulation as well to Sarah Ziegler with Chris Kids, who won the $50.00 Starbucks drawing!

The survey results were very positive and constructive.  Here is just a sampling of what we heard from our customers:

• 87% stated that the knowledge level of the KaleidaCare Account Management staff was Above Average or Excellent.
• 83% stated that KaleidaCare’s services were Above Average or Excellent.
• Over 90% stated that KaleidaCare communicated well with customers and that the quality of the responses was Above Average or Excellent.
• 78% stated that KaleidaCare services had improved over the past 2 years.

If you would like more detail on the survey, don’t hesitate to call or email.

For those of you who are newer to KaleidaCare, you have already received another survey emailed to you on July 1st.  This survey is about our Implementation Process, and we covet your feedback about the Implementation process, since we know it is the most essential part of what we do.  We know that a successful implementation sets the pace for a solid future with KaleidaCare Solutions.  Please take the time to fill this out when it gets to you.

In my capacity as Director of Training here at KaleidaCare, when I first read through the surveys, any comments or concerns regarding training jumped out at me, and there were several.  It is apparent that ongoing training is a constant need and concern for customers.  As new workers come on board, and as changes are made in Solutions, there is always the challenge of keeping everyone updated and trained.  What I also noticed was that many of you expressed that you liked the ease and availability of web-based trainings.  In these days of busy schedules, high gas prices and high caseloads, going to a regional training or user group may not always be an efficient use of time and resources.  In response to this customer need, KaleidaCare is currently working on a new service offering of web-based trainings that will provide your users with access to a wide variety of training offerings throughout the year.  Be looking for more information to come on this in the fall.  In the meantime, if you have any additional training-related thoughts and ideas, I would love to hear them.

Terra D. Brimberry, LMSW
Director of Training
KaleidaCare
....A Powerful Kaleidoscope of Information
Phone: 800-913-9883 or 512-219-8025, ext 203
Cell: 512-585-1025
Email:; tbrimberry@kaleidacare.com