Community Health Center Implements Timeslips to Track Time Spent Counseling Patients Dixwell/Newhallville Mental Health Services
© Copyright, Timeslips (timeslips.com), 2004
By Caren Schwartz
In 2002, Robert Page, executive director for the Dixwell/Newhallville Mental Health Services center, a community-based, mental health center in New Haven, Connecticut, faced a dilemma: with his staff of ten mental health clinicians spending the bulk of their time working with clients, there was little time available for them to complete the extensive reports required to receive reimbursements from the state. Page needed a solution capable of extensive customization, but at a reasonable price. As a non-profit reliant on government funding, expensive medical software was not an option for them.
Serving over 600 local citizens a year, Dixwell/Newhallville strengthens families by providing family counseling, behavioral health services, positive youth development, energy assistance and conducting other wellness programs in their community. As an institution funded by the State Departments of Mental Health and Addictions, as well as Social Services, Dixwell/Newhallville is required to track all time spent with their clients, including no-shows, to meet state contract compliance goals and be reimbursed by the state.
After doing some research, Page discovered Timeslips. Though most commonly used in the legal and accounting industries, Timeslips’ user-friendly interface and flexible reporting and time tracking capabilities can meet the needs of many professional service organizations. Page began working with Best Software Certified Consultant, Caren Schwartz, to set up and customize Timeslips to meet his needs.
” To meet Dixwell/Newhallville’s reporting requirements, I developed a custom report template for them in Timeslips,” explains Schwartz. “With the template I created, it’s very easy for all of the clinicians to log their time spent with clients, as well as track additional information, such as the patient’s date of birth, living situation, date of service, time spent, and diagnosis- all necessary for their tracking purposes.”
Assisting clients is Dixwell/Newhallville’s top priority, and Timeslips helps them maintain that focus by limiting the amount of time the busy clinicians must spend on administrative tasks and reporting. All of the center’s client appointments are tracked within Timeslips, including the amount of time a clinician expects to spend with each client, the actual time spent, and the client’s diagnosis. Timeslips also enables the center to protect the confidentiality of client information entered in the program by allowing certain fields to be hidden.
” Working with Caren and Timeslips has saved us tremendous amounts of time and optimized our state dollar for required technology, allowing us to help more citizens more effectively in our urban community,” said Page. “With ten clinicians working with a number of patients day-in and day-out, keeping track of everything could be tricky; but Timeslips has helped us manage our client data and comply with state requirements, without taking time away from our primary tasks. The customization is excellent!”
Every two weeks, Page can send each report to the state electronically to ensure that the center tracks its services so the state can account for funding allocations. And getting continued funding is another benefit to the center, enabling them to continue providing quality treatment and care to the New Haven community.
Ultimately, Timeslips helps the center focus on what it does best: supporting and serving clients in the community, which benefits not just the staff at Dixwell/Newhallville, but the residents in New Haven as well.
Challenge: Dixwell/Newhallville Mental Services didn’t have the people or the time to fill out extensive reports required to receive reimbursements from the state.
Solution: Timeslips provided Dixwell/Newhallville Mental Services with customized reporting and patient tracking capabilities.
Results: With Timeslips, Dixwell/Newhallville Mental Services has saved a tremendous amount of time and optimized their state dollars, allowing them to help more citizens in their community.
© Copyright, Caren Schwartz, 2002.
Caren Schwartz is the founder of Time & Cents Consultants, LLC, a Southport, Connecticut firm that works with professionals to help them purchase, install and utilize software to manage their time and money. She is a Certified Professional Advisor for QuickbooksQuickBooks® and a Certified Consultant for Timeslips®, TimeSheet Professional® and Amicus Attorney®, as well as an Authorized Independent Consultant for Time Matters. Caren is also certified on Phoneslips®, Compulaw and TABS.
Caren Schwartz
Time & Cents Consultants, LLC
203-254-7736
E-mail: info@timeandcents.com
Website: www.timeandcents.com