Richard's Blog

The system is currently unavailable. We hope to get it back up as soon as possible.

What is interesting is how infrequent even 5 minutes downtime has become. The good news is that our system has become increasingly reliable. Where we start looking at months with 99.99%+ levels of unplanned outages.

The downside of general reliability is that internal procedures for dealing with problems are not used as much. Luckily we plan for certain problems so when the occur we are prepared.

Hopefully the system will be up soon. We apologize for any inconvenience. Please let us know if there are any questions or problems we can help with.

People have asked about upcoming conferences for planning purposes. The next side by side conference is May 4-6 with College of Direct Support, Rest Assured and Web Footed Friends will be held in Kansas City, Missouri.

We expect to announce that the summer conference will be held in Baltimore, Maryland July 27-29, 2010.

The fall conference location has not been decided.

I am at HIMSS 2010 in Atlanta this week. Looking forward to their sessions including ARRA, electronic signatures, HIEs and more.

Kevin recently posted a picture showing his view from his house in Hawaii.  That really gives a sense of the breadth of locations where Therap team members live and have knowledge of.

This picture was taken across the street at Washington Square Park in New York City today.  It was a little more challenging checking emails on my droid through the snowfall – but I was able to stay in touch while having snowball fights with the kids.

I still don’t think they one ever needs a snow day in New York City – but that is based on being able to walk or take a subway everywhere.

For the second straight time we are running a conference in the Kansas City area – a hotel started as a Holiday Inn and switched before our conference. Last time it was to a Ramada in Overland Park, KS. Now the Holiday Inn at the Kansas City, Missouri Sportsplex has become a Clarion.

If anyone has any issues or problems with the hotel ask for Steve in events at (816) 353-5300.

It should be a great conference. College of Direct Support is running it with us.  Rest Assured is again a sponsor.  Linda Petrini at Web Footed Friends will be there.

There will also be a number of Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska specific sessions.  Including discussions on electronic signatures.

And Jeff Case has said he will show everyone whats fun in Kansas City when the Royals are out of town.

What a hectic couple of weeks of ideas and discussions and conferences this has been.

We had our best conference ever. (I am already talking with the hotel about the 2011 provider administrator conference – and we have our next side-by-side technology conference with College of Direct Support in Kansas City, Missouri in May).

We had discussions on major issues which Justin summarized quite nicely in his blog including Access Simplification, Multi-Access Provider System, and Cross Organization Information Sharing.

Lots of discussions on Electronic Signatures.  A lot of information on OMRDD requirements for electronic signatures in New York. I am looking forward to the Missouri conference and having equally intense conversations about electronic signatures with Therap users in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Arkansas and other states.

It was also our one time each year that the whole Therap team gets together in one place.  It was also nice to have had discussions and spend time with people like Bonnie, Bryan, Bill, Vanessa and so many others. And Cheryl and Terry who may have been the only people who remember Therap from before 5.0.  We missed Renee- and hope she feels better for next years conference. It wasn’t the same without you.

In terms of next year – we look forward to even more sessions and discussions. Although now that we put together a schedule with sesssions running through lunch- i will add that 15 minutes back to at least get the food to bring to the sessions. And Justin has even agreed to discuss my planning evening sessions.

We are working on various interfaces with Health Information Exchanges. Our first pilot will be with Hartford Hospital and the Connecticut E Health Initiative. We are in discussions with HIE’s in other states.

Sazzad, Asif and Masum recently attended an HL7 conference in Arizona. There are an interesting series of blog posts on the customer support blog.

There are also will be a series of sessions at the provider administrator conference on HL7, HIE’s and interfacing with hospitals.

I am frequently asked about cost savings from using Therap.  There seem to broadly be at least 3 type of cost savings.

One type of cost savings is reductions in paper, gas costs, mileage reimbursement, copying expenses, mailing expenses and other direct clear third party costs which are clearcut savings. It turns out that just these categories alone can more than pay for the cost of Therap. Plus I once calculated a side benefit of saving one tree per year for 7 individuals who have their documentationo on Therap.

A second cost category of cost savings is sometimes harder for agencies to see.  Agencies tell us nurses can save one to two hours a day. However, if an agency only has 3 nurses, they may not be able to eliminate a nursing position. So the savings are more in improved efficiencies.  A similar situation occurs if a DSP saves an hour driving paper around in the middle of their shift. You can give the DSP time off – but hopefully there are other benefits of this increase in time available from a decrease in driving.

There are many other types of savings which can be problematic to exactly calculate. Allison had an example today she wrote about in her blog.

She visited an agency which said

that since starting the MARs, their med errors have dropped to nearly zero–that would be none, nada, zilch, nothing. It could certainly be attributed to the immediate review that online documentation allows, along with some careful planning and implementation on Pathway’s part…

Obviously there are quality of life benefits to not having med errors. However, what is the cost savings to an agency. What is the cost of reporting med errors. What is the cost of investigating med errors.

My sense is that when agencies are running their cost analysis they are not factoring in these type of benefits when doing a line by line benefit. Agencies are seeing these benefits when looking at the total budget impact of using Therap. I received an email recently from a longtime user who wrote

We continue to use Therap now more than ever as communication is essential when we have Supervisors spread so thin these days.  (we are down to 4 Managers as opposed to the 9 we used to have)

In what ways can we help create relevant cost savings analyses?

We received an email from the Hampton Inn across the parking lot from the Holiday Inn where the provider administrator conference is being held that they now have rates at $79 if you ask for Therap. Their phone number is 845-896-4000.

We  do not have a contract with the hotel – so we are passing this information on.  I assume it is subject to change.

If anyone has any questions or problems with finding hotels please let us know.

No matter where people stay – it should be a great conference.

In addition to the Holiday Inn – we have made arrangements with the Hampton Inn across the parking lot to provide Therap National Provider Administrator attendees sleeping rooms at the same $99 a night. Just mention the Therap Services conference when you call. The number is 845-896-4000.

The following information is from the Hampton Inn

The Hampton inn Fishkill is a newly renovated property that is located behind the Holiday Inn in the same parking lot! We have a walkway to the Holiday Inn that makes it even more convenient for your attendees to move from one hotel to the other.

 

The Hampton Inn Fishkill is a newly renovated property. All  of the rooms come with microwaves, refrigerators, 32” flat screen TV’s and ofcourse the Hilton Cloud Nine Bedding. Being a part of the Hilton Chain of Hotels, we offer the Hilton Honor Points where you get credit for Hotel stays as well as airline miles.

 

All of our room rates include complimentary full  breakfast, Breakfast to go bags for those in a hurry,  internet, complimentary access to All Sport Fishkill which is a 75000 square feet of exercise and fitness space  and a 24 hour complimentary coffee bar.  We do have an indoor pool.

If anyone has any issues or questions let us know.

The Holiday Inn still has rooms and their number is 845-896-6291.

It is shaping up as a great conference. Lots of very experienced Therap users will be attending and participating in brainstorming and discusions. We also have several tracks designed for new users. With 9 separate tracks – there should be something for everyone.