Developmental Disabilities Resources, Inc. provides an array of long- and short-term services for adults and children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The organization’s mission is to understand the needs of the individuals and families they serve and to provide options tailored to those need Their team is made up of 65 internal support staff and over 850 experienced direct support professionals (DSPs) who build lasting relationships with the family members, community members, and others who are important to the individuals they serve.
The Challenge
As a healthcare organization, DDR is required to maintain electronic records to connect with the federal Health Information Exchange and also ensure privacy compliance. The organization was using mostly-manual processes based on a system built with an old version of FileMaker. This system didn’t accommodate electronic recordkeeping, so all records had to be manually made electronic, and it was cumbersome to use.
Data is created daily by the DSPs in the field, who recorded information on paper forms. DDR’s support staff then took those paper forms and entered all the data into the electronic system. Data from other sources also had to be manually entered into the system. These processes which required unreasonable amounts of time.
The Solution
The team at DDR knew they needed to build a more robust, as-paperless-as-possible system that would not only allow them to more efficiently create electronic records but would also be compliant. Initially, the team planned to build the system in-house, but they quickly realized that they needed help. When they searched online to find FileMaker training programs. They discovered The Scarpetta Group and decided that they wanted to work with the Scarpetta team to build the new system.
The Scarpetta team customized the Jarvis CRM to create precisely what DDR needed, quickly and cost-effectively, focusing on automating as much of the data entry as possible.
The Results
48% of all the data created by the DDR team is now automatically entered into the new system, eliminating the manual process entirely for that data. The remaining data entry has been sped up thanks to improved processes. An integration allows information to be shared with integrated health partners, such as the medical doctors, behaviorists, and nutritionists, so all the data pertaining to each client is kept up-to-date in the system. The new process has also eliminated all the paper that was previously printed out and sent to the integrated care partners.
Eric Dettrey, Director of Operations at DDR, shares, “It’s been great working with the Scarpetta team. It’s astonishing how much they learned in a short amount of time. The developer we’re working with has gotten to know our processes very well, to the point where she understands enough to know improve them. The team is very easy to work with, dependable, and knowledgeable about what they do. I’m glad we made the decision we did to have them assist us.”
