Therap in the Pacific

 Posts Tagged ‘Alaska’

Do you have a staff person(s) that is resisting making the transition  over to Therap?  Well your the only one….Just kidding.  As with any change everyone adapts in their own way.  Perhaps they are opposed to open and clear communication, or maybe they like dealing with paperwork rather than people, or maybe  they don’t value their time and want to spend hours wading through staff notes to create reports, maybe they don’t believe in quality, or….OK sarcasm may help me retain my sanity but it is probably not the best way to lead and support my staff. 

Here are some better options based on proven leadership strategies:

1. Identify how Therap aligns with your agency values, then practice what you preach.  If you value clear communication set the example by increasing the amount of communication between you and your staff using Therap.

2. Establish a clear vision for life after implementation.  Make sure everyone knows how this is going to help your agency remain strong and viable now and in the future.

3. Be open to real concerns from staff, help staff separate out real challenges from resistance.  Share responsibility for identifying solutions.

4. Foster ownership of Therap through team meetings and implementation committees.   Therap’s “Approval” role allows for the delegation of some taksa you might not have been comfortable releasing in your paper system.  In Therap nothing can slip bye without Approval allowing you to increase staff’s responsibilities and support them to rise to the next level.

5. Celebrate success big and small. Often time a small bump in the road overshadows a whole lot of great work.  Don’t let it.  I suggest a Therap party wear orange, get an orange cake, and orange sherbert!

Use sarcasm in moderation (I am working  on this one myself).  And don’t forget to reach out to our amazing support team for help.  They have seen it all before.

I am still reeling from the excitement of our Conference last week. This may sound exaggerated, but if you were there, and somewhere between 350 to 400 of you were, you know what I mean.  Therap is at a level we have never been at before, but if you know us that is a daily reality as we never stop moving forward carefully, according to plan, but onward and upward we go with all of you.

It was also great having a contingency of Therap Users folks from California, Alaska, and Hawaii.  We had some great discussions and more than a few Aha! moments.  I am always amazed at how many problems Therap solves.  I am also very proud at how simply using the Therap system supports agencies to evolve to a higher manifestation of themselves.  Everyone who uses Therap soon finds they do what they do better than they did before and in ways they could not see before.  Having all that information at your fingertips helps you truly see yourself in new ways.

Thanks to all of you for making this such a great event.  If you could not make it start planning for next year or head over to one of our Regional Conferences, such as San Diego in December.  You can also keep an eye out for one of our User groups n your area, a smaller more locally focused discussion and learning on using Therap to its fullest potential.

See you soon!

Do yourself a favor and more importantly help individuals needing assistance with their medications get exactly what they need to maintain or improve their health.  Therap’s MAR (Medication Administration Record) is proven to reduce the number of medication errors and the number of documentation errors commonly occurring in our hectic work environment.

1. Therap’s MAR is linked to a National Drug Data bank continually updated with prescription and over the counter medications.  Avoid inputting errors because they system will only show you the medications and dosages that are available.

2. Schedule the times for each medication and then pull up due or overdue medications before they become an Incident Report and jeopardize someone’s health.

3.Get alerts for missed or refused medications.

4. Lock the MAR for entry and alert the appropriate staff person so changes can be reviewed by two sets of eyes.

5. In addition to Scheduled and PRN Medications you can also track Scheduled and PRN Treatments, such as repositioning, Range of Motion, etc.

6.  View a picture of the individual and a picture of the medication when administering medication, and see clearly color coded options and history.

7. Add comments right within the entry to explain unusual circumstances, and even print out paper copies for travel.

Therap’s MAR will save you a lot of time, but even more importantly to us here at Therap, it will help the people you serve stay healthy and avoid unnecessary complications to their lives.

Are you scrambling and struggling to meet 5010 billing requirements?  Don’t you wish you had someone on your team who would just stay on top of every minutia of these constantly changing regulations, and solve your problems for you.  While we on the subject how about a fancy shiny set of buttons that do many wonderful things for you.  Those of you who use Therap know where I’m going with this….:)

Effective January 1, 2012, providers of developmental disability services are required by a federal mandate to use the HIPAA Version 5010 standard for electronic claim transactions. We are pleased to announce that Therap’s Electronic Billing system has been successfully upgraded to support Version 5010 compliance requirements.

We didn’t stop with mere compliance, in addition we added lots of features that will make it easier to get the information you need in and out.  Including the ability to automatically make ISP Data (Service Notes) that you specify billable  something some of you have been asking for.

We can even point you in the right direction to find your 9 digit zip code, just because we’re helpful like that.  If your not already using Therap’s Billing tools, let me know and I will be happy to show you what we can do to integrate this into the rest of your documentation, no need to enter notes twice.

Well I have gotten the full dose of winter weather I was hoping for, and seems like I am getting a little extra for my send off.  Here is what it looked like this morning:

Even better though I got a full dose of time with the people in Alaska that make Therap awesome.  As always this leaves me even more energized and passionate about helping do great things for people with disabilities and the people that support them.

Here at the airport I am very glad I got here early as it seems to be getting thicker and thicker.  Soon I will be in 80 degree weather, but for now it looks like this:

Looking forward to seeing lots of our Alaska agencies represented at the National Conference next month. FYI – The Alaska folks will be the ones wearing shorts and sunning them selves as they warm up in the New Jersey winter. 

See you soon friends.  Feel free to bring me anything from my favorite restaurant.    10 Therap points for the first person to email me the connection between this restaurant and a hit TV show filmed in Hawaii.

So much exciting things are happening here in Alaska, we continue to experience the same growth we saw last year, which means lots of new agencies getting started.  Our current agencies are getting sharper and sharper with their use and we have more agencies using our Billing features that help manage Prior Authorizations, make sure agencies bill for every service that is documented, and alerts them well ahead of time before a PA expires or get 100% used up.  And these are just the basics, add in lots of bells and whistles like Utilization Reports,   linking billing to daily Services Notes, tracking multiple funding sources including grants, Cost Center reports, and other things that agencies dream up once they have access to the Therap tools.

Despite the cold, it is beautiful and a lot of fun here.  Take a look at this clear day and the ice sculpture garden in Anchorage.  Despite being right on the ocean one of the things you constantly see are mountains surrounding the city.  Beautiful!

We’re like the Post Office only in Orange…..Check out Allison and Brent in Action with the awesome folks at Arc of Anchorage, who are getting even awesomer. 1st T-logs, 1st GER’s, 1st of many more good things!

This is what it looks like outside when the sun finally gets up, it is still below freezing!

Happy New year friends!

I had a nice green and bright christmas at home and I enjoyed every minute of it. Not that I mind a little snow from time to time. So I think I am getting my snow fix by spending some time in Anchorage. 2degrees right now but it is expected to get up to a sunny 26 today. Will be spending some time with Allison and Brent doing what we do best….Helping awesome agencies become more awesomer.  Here’s what I got off the plane to:

This is around 7am, and it hurts to breathe.  But it sure is beautiful.

I hope you had a chance to see my presentation last week at the AADD meeting, I greatly enjoyed my time with everyone there.  It is exciting to see a group of folks that have some much in common and play nice together.  I assure this is not the case at every State association I have been to.  I also apologize if this message is redundant but I want to make sure everyone is aware of Therap and the work we do to support agencies just like yourselves including several members of AADD.

Therap is now across most every state in the Nation and throughout many organizations in Alaska.  It is a system that is transforming how we do business in the Developmental Disability Industry. Through the use of web-based technology, Therap has helped over 750 agencies save time, money, and resources that historically have chiseled away at the bottom line of an organization’s budget.

What can Therap users do in the system? Here are a few benefits –

    Communicate information electronically in a secure, HIPAA compliant environment,
    Track and trend data for State, County, or Agency reports,
    Bill directly to ACS for services provided in Alaska,
    Maintain data on goal progress, behavior tracking, incident management/reporting, billing, consumer finances, progress notes, and many other areas of your disability business,
    Reduce medication errors via our electronic MAR and drug database…and much more…

I would like to invite you to learn more about Therap by attending a web presentation, in which I will be demonstrating many of Therap’s capabilities. The upcoming dates to choose from are:

Tuesday, October 18th at 10:00 AM AST

Thursday, November 3rd at 2:00 PM AST

Please send me an email at kevin.dierks@therapservices.net to let me know your preference. I will forward you a link with instructions on how to join the internet presentation.

If you prefer a formal presentation at your office, let me know when would be a convenient time for us to make arrangements.  I would also be happy to arrange a personalized webinar with you and your staff.

I look forward to talking with you soon.

As of my current calculations, I estimate just under 50% of the people with intellectual disabilities that are supported by Alaska’s Waiver for these individuals are being supported in an agency that uses Therap.  I love our ability to support quality lives….both of the people receiving services as well as those delivering those services.  Your staff should not be abused by their paperwork, they are too valuable a resource.  I was talking to someone last night who got out of the field because she did not want to be a paperwork processor it was not her passion and not why she chose this career path.

I love looking around Alaska it is so beautiful, the mountains and the ocean are a constant part of the view here, and you can drive and drive towards the mountains and you never seem to get any closer.  I do want to fully disclose so I will let you know it is cold here.  The locals say that’s what keeps it from becoming Los Angeles.

Therap is very committed to helping everyone here in the State of Alaska.  We have had Therap folks out here at different times this year.  I am looking forward to presenting at the AADD meeting and connecting with all of those great folks.  Quality is on everyone’s tongue here in Alaska and their actions are backing up those words. Very wonderful to see and be a small part of this.