Case Study: The Arc of Lehigh & Northampton Counties
Developing a Custom EVV System with Zoho
Over 700 caregivers and employees were using paper timesheets and a 20-year-old system to process payroll. But vital government reimbursements relied on accurate and timely submissions and reporting.
Completely Compliant
The Creator application is HIPAA compliant and compatible with government forms EDI 835, EDI 837, and EDI 276/277.
By the Numbers
The application submits 5,500+ records to the government every pay period and has supported over 1.4 million staff hours logged.
Streamlined Taskslists
No more manual records or reporting. Hundreds of hours are saved and reimbursements are collected quicker thanks to automated approvals.
Certified Zoho Development
Manual systems made it difficult for the team at The Arc of Lehigh & Northampton Counties to pull reports on the services they offered, their costs, or their popularity. This lack of visibility and accuracy provided major challenges for the nonprofit organization, especially for their accounting team who needed to submit EDIs 835, 837, and 276/277 to the government for reimbursement.
Meanwhile, Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) is mandated by the federal government. Without the state being able to digitally verify that caretakers are performing the personal care services they’ve been employed to complete under Medicaid, the state and The Arc could lose out on the funds they’re due. However, The Arc previously had no way to verify when and where the caretakers were performing their services. With digital verification becoming the requirement, this had to change.
KDG and The Arc have been partners for over a decade. When we learned of the struggles The Arc was facing with their legacy payroll systems, we recommended Zoho. What resulted is a custom Creator application integrated with The Arc’s third-party payroll system and government-contracted vendors. Together, these applications review timesheets, process payroll, and submit Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements to the state government.
- Zoho Creator development
- GPS tracking
- Mobile & desktop friendly
- Third-party payroll system integration
- HIPAA compliant
- Zoho Analytics integration
- EDI 835, EDI 837, EDI 276/277 compliant
- In-person training & online support portal
- Document verification
- Vehicle compliance
- User permissions & approval flow
- Zoho Desk integration
Automation & Accuracy
"Every single pay period, we see more and more benefits of this transition and we're continuing to work with KDG to do more...to bring us into the modern world of technology."
Peg Breckinridge, Director of Finance
Solutions
Requirements Gathering
To gather requirements for this new app, KDG and The Arc engaged in multiple onsite meetings, stakeholder interviews, and focus groups to determine what teams would use the app and how they would use it. This also involved several interviews with prospective payroll providers to determine which ones would more seamlessly integrate with the application (we ultimately decided on NCR).
User Roles & Permissions
There’s also a substantial amount of user roles built into the system to ensure that only users with specific permissions can access certain features.There are Arc employees, managing employees and caregivers, drivers, support coordinators, and accountants all utilizing the app for specific data. It was important that we built user-specific functionality to not only meet HIPAA requirements but to improve the usability of the app. We wanted the app to be simple to use, so this meant limiting features available to those that mattered most based on permissions.
Time Tracking
The first phase of the project launched digital timesheets. Service providers can log time directly in the app’s custom employee portal via mobile or desktop. More than just time in and out is recorded. Services, patient codes, and notes are also saved to the timesheet, offering more visibility for management. These timesheets are then reviewed and sent to payroll, billing, and, ultimately, the government.
Training
This system rolled out to over 700 employees, who all required training in order to seamlessly use these new features. Training was conducted regularly in person, through documentation, and even through personalized webinars and screen shares. A support portal was developed with a library of training materials. Here users can not only directly download the mobile app, but also view a video walkthrough of the app and its features.
Constantly Evolving
Since that initial launch, the application has become one that embodies nearly all HR, billing, and payroll functions. It offers location services so the nonprofit can track when service providers are with clients. It houses and verifies documents like passports or driver’s licenses. It also offers a vehicle compliance feature so that drivers can submit mileage after performing services. Upcoming Phase 4 of the project will track on-site classes and allow families to request advocacy support.
Time Entry
Employees can easily submit time entries to the Arc's central office and to the government for reimbursement.
Reimbursement Options
Users can track mileage, time, and expenses for simple government reimbursement.
Employee Dashboard
A detailed employee dashboard shows timelogs, registered vehicles, waivers, and more.
Location Services
New state regulations require that all billing claims be submitted digitally and then corroborated by GPS coordinates.
Mobile Compatibility
Caregivers on-the-go can even log their time using the mobile version of the app.
Sign Up for
the Latest Insights
