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Supporting Next-Generation Care
How GoodLife Simplified Data Management & Shortened Collection Timelines By 25% with SETWorks
About GoodLife Innovations
Since 1977, GoodLife has empowered individuals with disabilities to live independent, satisfying, and purposeful lives through its innovative service models and technology. GoodLife’s network of professional neighbors and trained staff support over 400 Kansas residents across the lifespan.
Company Size: 500 employees
Participants: 400 individuals
Location: Kansas
“The SETWorks team is willing to listen to what we need and look at different ways to help us solve problems. They really worked with us to streamline our key documentation and billing, and it paid off very quickly.”
Dr. Mike Strouse // President & CEO // GoodLife Innovations
Challenges
Delivering innovative care, but bogged down by clunky software
For over 40 years, GoodLife has worked to develop innovative service models that improve the lives of individuals with disabilities and the people who support them.
For example, GoodLife operates Neighborhood Networks where semi-independent adults with disabilities live in their own homes, and care is delivered by professional next-door neighbors at the moment and place of need. GoodLife also delivers care in more intensive support settings, such as shared living, which provides one-on-one care in a family home environment.
GoodLife had been an early adopter of one of the first cloud-based systems for client information management. While the platform did the job at first, service delivery models and user expectations had changed and the software hadn’t kept up.
As a behavior analyst, GoodLife CEO Dr. Mike Strouse recognized that staff was being forced to adapt the way they delivered services to the software — instead of the other way around.
This meant the GoodLife team frequently found themselves doing workarounds to get the system to do what they needed. “Our old software was complicated and clunky,” recalls Mike.
GoodLife had also developed their own remote support technology, iLink, which combines advanced communication, home automation, and sensor technology to deliver next-generation care.
However, the previous software system didn’t integrate with iLink — something their distributed, part-virtual team needed in order to streamline support.
“If you’re working alone in a home or helping somebody remotely at night, you need to know information about that client, like contact information and helpful hints,” says Mike. “We needed a simple, uncomplicated software that would provide only the information staff needed from their perspective.”
Mike also realized that they were losing out on revenue because of the inability to capture billing information when and where services happened.
“Our case managers would keep notes and then bill weekly, or even every couple of weeks,” explains Mike. “You lose the accuracy of information when you do that, and you lose billing.”
In addition, GoodLife had to go through a third-party intermediary to submit information to Kansas’ eBilling system, which caused payment delays.
Mike and his team began searching for a different system that would allow them to manage client information, billing, and reporting in a way that made sense with their internal and external tools and service models.
Solution
Purpose-built software, simple user interfaces and hands-on support
When Mike ran into the SETWorks team at an ANCOR conference, he was immediately drawn to their fresh, industry-focused approach.
“SETWorks is an ANCOR partner like us,” explains Mike. “I ran across SETWorks’ founders at the table next to our iLink exhibit, and we got to discussing and geeking out together. The SETWorks team is very creative, their system has a contemporary interface, and they have a really modern approach to data.”
Mike especially appreciated that SETWorks’ software was built for their purposes, and made sense with the way their organization operated.
“A lot of software is organized around clients, but there’s so much data you also collect by home or program. That’s not exactly the same thing, and SETWorks provided the ability to look at clients in homes or programs and keep metrics on that — an important function that most systems don’t have,” explains Mike. “With SETWorks, I don’t feel like anything is a workaround.”
GoodLife Executive Administrator Mindy Mihalchik worked with SETWorks to help transition their Neighborhood Networks to the new system, and was surprised by how easy SETWorks was to use and how involved their people were willing to be.
Adds Mike, “Having good software is one thing, but having good onboarding support is a totally different thing — and SETWorks has it.”
SETWorks has even worked with Mike directly to build integrations with iLink that streamline care and increase staff efficiency. For example, instead of needing to toggle between different tools, ‘quick links’ allow staff to easily access client records, contact information, medications, and other information that improves service delivery — all from a kiosk in the home.
User adoption of SETWorks has surpassed Mike and Mindy’s expectations.
“Usually, no new software is well-liked. But SETWorks is well-liked internally for its simplicity and clean, intuitive interface — not just by finance, but at the home and program level.”
Results
25% improvement in collection timelines, time savings for direct staff, better documentation & audit-readiness
It quickly became clear that using SETWorks resulted in significant time savings for GoodLife’s frontline staff.
“When you have a Neighborhood Network with 20-plus residents, entering billing or census information can be very time-consuming,” explains Mindy. “SETWorks saved a lot of our staff time, and time is precious.”
For the first time, staff were able to collect data on attendance, census information, care concerns, and other significant events in real-time. These efficiencies, along with SETWorks’ ability to connect directly to the state funder’s system to support electronic billing, have had a direct impact on GoodLife’s bottom line.
Using SETWorks has also improved documentation for case management, which Mike says will help with audit-readiness in the future.
“The documentation in case management is challenging. Sometimes case managers don’t use the right words or don’t hit every point that’s required,” explains Mike. “Using SETWorks increases the probability of documentation having the correct form and components for an audit, because the system won’t accept it unless it’s complete.”
GoodLife is excited to have found a strategic partner who supports their next-generation service model approach.
“SETWorks is a perfect partner for us,” says GoodLife Chief Strategy Officer Megan McKinney Todd. “We can’t be the experts in everything, so that collaboration has been really powerful.”
Mike values SETWorks’ people as much as its modern platform, and recommends them to other disability service agencies everywhere he goes.
“SETWorks has their finger on the pulse of technology and information management,” says Mike. “It’s not just the system — it’s the people. Their willingness to listen, get excited about what we’re doing, and figure out how they can be a partner. I like that, and that’s something beyond software.”
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