Optimize Your Billing: Don’t Work for Free!
Check and Connect Webinar for Indiana Program Managers and CEOsNovember 3, 2016
Questions and Answers
The questions below were asked during the Check and Connect, “Optimize Your Billing: Don’t Work for Free!” Answers were provided by Debbie Mitchell of Sycamore Services and Carla Orr from Adult & Child Health, who were featured presenters in the webinar. For additional questions, please contact Maya Cox, at .
Question: Could you talk about jetpacks a little more?
Answer: Jetpacks are portable internet devices that allow ECs to access the internet in the field, regardless if Wi-Fi is available onsite. These are also known as “MiFi’s,” and are usually obtained through a cell phone provider.
Question: What is the name of the software package you are using?
Answer: Sycamore uses a program called Accel, and Adult Child uses an Electronic Medical Record System called Profiler.
Question: What is the name of the software you are using to run the reports?
Answer: The software both agencies use to capture case notes produces reports. Usually, this is a feature of the software product. If an agency does not have a software system, Microsoft Excel can be used to track authorizations and billing, and to report aggregate data.
Question: Do you also keep track of the facility/private transportation with this as well?
Answer: Sycamore’s software allows for mileage tracking. ECs enter in mileage in with case notes, and then run a report to generate data for invoices. Adult Child’s software does not allow for tracking, so a separate mileage log is kept to bill VR.
Question:How do you balance productivity when having so much non-billable activity?
Answer: We work with staff to make sure time is organized well, and that most time is spent in productive activity. Besides staff meetings and training time, we anticipate that staff should spend time in productive activity. For a fact sheet on what VR considers billable, please visit: and scroll down to the “Get Paid for What You Do!” fact sheet link. From a management perspective, we do several things to support staff productivity. We track the number of hours spent in milestones and request authorizations for services to cover cost as needed. Examples from today’s presentation include Job Search Assistance after Milestone 1 is exhausted, and Supported Employment or short-term, on-the-job supports when Milestone 2 is exhausted. Additionally, we look at staff productivity on a regular basis to provide additional information. For example, someone’s goal may be 75% productive over the week. That means that the EC would have to spend an average of 6 out of 8 hours of their day in “productive” activity. Sometimes we learn that staff are not billing for everything that they should, and other times we may find that staff need support in organizing their time.
Question: For your Employment Services Coordinator positions - are any aspects of their tasks billable activities, or are their positions completely unfunded?
At Sycamore, the Coordinator’s time for overseeing documentation for accuracy and other associated tasks is not billable. However, the Coordinator spends about 15 hours/week on a grant project which helps offset the admin time. I forgot to mention that an additional way the Coordinator assists is by “tickling” due dates for milestone billings on Outlook for the employment staff so they get pop up reminders. I’m also tagged so I can easily project revenue for the month through milestones.
Question: How would you describe an optimal caseload for billing? Specialist versus generalist? Caseload size? Great presentation!
Sycamore recently hired two part-time staff as Retention Specialists to provide support for those in Extended Services. This has assisted Employment Consultants to have more time with VR caseloads.
At Adult & Child, staff are generalists, with caseloads of 10-12 active cases. We operate as vocational generalists with a team-based approach. We are currently exploring ways to focus on areas of expertise that allows for staff to practice or specialize their support services provided to individuals.