IGHL was created in 1978 with the mission to provide lifetime alternatives for individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities, from childhood through adulthood. IGHL provides residential services through more than 50 residential locations and day habilitation services through over 20 different sites. They also provide family support services, a full spectrum of clinical services, from physical and speech therapy to psychology, and a full range of nursing services, coordinated with the local hospitals and primary care practices.
IGHL implemented MediSked Connect – Agency Management Platform after years of looking for a platform to streamline their documentation. Their goal was to increase documentation efficiencies, in order to ease the burden on their staff so they could reinvest that time to working directly with the individuals they support and to better ensure compliance with billing documentation standards.
Featured SOLUTION
Streamline information and service delivery to create efficiencies and improve outcomes across provider agencies
The Opportunity
IGHL had considered switching to an EHR for several years. They were using a hybrid documentation process; a paper-based system for their consumer records and billing documentation, and a separate electronic consumer data base that could also construct ISPs. When IGHL reached out to MediSked, they were in the planning phase of a complete IT upgrade and decided to include EHR in the process.
To help them choose the best platform for their needs, IGHL conducted a thorough audit of the industry and procured references from other providers.
“MediSked just kept coming up as a product that organizations in our field were using and have done so with a tremendous amount of success.”
-William Herrick
IGHL had four affiliates to consider during their transition: The Center for Developmental Disabilities, Angela’s House, the New Interdisciplinary School, and the Victims Information Bureau of Suffolk (VIBS), a domestic violence crisis intervention program.
The Outcome
At the time of this case study, IGHL’s Connect Instance wasn’t live, as to focus on the implementation experience and provide valuable insight to our process in order to aid those considering a transition. William Herrick provided some key thoughts about IGHL’s experience:
On considering additional innovations post-launch:
“One element that we’ve considered all along is how the internal audit review process will be changing. But only recently we’ve been discussing the external audit process. Right now, everything the auditors see on the program/billing side is on paper. In less than a year we’ll be giving them a
password to a special access account or just handing them a thumb drive.
MediSked will help us remove the paper aspect of the audit process, which will save everyone an incredible amount of time. We will be able to do our internal reviews, manage billing documentation, interact with outside auditors, interact with in-house financial staff, all in a much more efficient manner. These are all time savings we’ll appreciate once we’re launched and go live.”
The experience with our dedicated Solution Design & Delivery Team:
“The short answer is 5/5 stars. I can’t say enough about all of the folks at MediSked. We’re an assertive organization; growth has always been a big part of what we do. So, we approached MediSked with a number of preconceived expectations; things we wanted MediSked to do for us. And, we’ve implemented similar, very involved computer systems before, so we had a lot of prerequisite knowledge going in. The MediSked team has been incredibly accommodating of our expectations and our desire to move the project along. They’ve put up with us pretty well and I really couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.”
Implementation Insights
During their implementation process, William Herrick, IGHL’s Chief Information and Compliance Officer, offered his insights, tips, and experience about the transition.
Efficiencies during implementation:
“Being an organization that prides itself on doing things efficiently, the entire MediSked implementation team has been a perfect fit and has brought a lot of positive energy into the process. We’re also a very dynamic organization, sometimes going in a dozen different directions at the same time. The MediSked team and their process ensured that we stayed focused and dedicated the necessary resources to the project. The sense I get at this point in our implementation is that we’re addressing every issue we can, as efficiently as we can, and I’m seeing a bright light at the end of the tunnel.”
“To be honest, I don’t think the process could be going any better.”
Tips for those preparing for an implementation:
“First, we’ve done a lot of work getting information out to people about MediSked; what it can do and generally how it works. The more people, especially the leadership team, know about what’s coming; the development and implementation process, the more we can relieve that natural anxiety that comes with a big transition like this.
We’ve also held several administrative training sessions and did exercises with our staff to help break the ice, giving people an overview of the project. We provided projected timeline and launch dates, gave them screenshots of what the system actually looks like on the computer. People were engaged, asked great questions, and were less worried about “what do we do now.”
These strategies seem to have been successful; keeping people informed, turning the unknown into knowns has been very positive. It’s been a good investment of time upfront for everyone.”
Advice for a successful implementation:
“Put together a good project team, and senior decision-makers that are ready to dedicate themselves to the work and the expectations of MediSked. In-house, I couldn’t have a better team to work with. MediSked has high expectations, a fine-tuned process, and dedicates the resources you need. You have to match that and put together a good solid team on your end that’s dedicated to do the work. If you can do that, then it’ll be a very positive experience.”
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