Process
Improvement Becomes a Priority at LSS
In 2000, LSS set forth goals
in its Long-Range Plan to create a stronger focus on mission, to show
innovation in service leadership, and to increase its capacity to serve
others in the coming five years. LSS is meeting those goals with several
process improvement initiatives. Even as financial resources are being
trimmed at the state level, LSS is pushing ahead with process improvement
because it streamlines services and saves money and time in the long run.
Several of these initiatives have been completed, and others are being
implemented.
Guardianship turns its
business around
Guardianship is an example of
a line of service that has made giant steps forward because of process
improvement. When the Guardianship team prepared for the LSS Self
Assessment in 2001, their line of service confronted some daunting
challenges: significant financial losses each year, an overworked staff,
30% turnover of staff each year, and a decrease in private-pay clients.
By the end of 2002,
Guardianship had pulled its service into the black and onto a steady
growth track. After examining their overall operations, they found that
all the processes needed improvement: billable time, fees, contracts,
policies and procedures, financial performance, activity tracking,
billing, regional office practices and staff compensation.
After identifying what was
wrong, Guardianship developed a plan to increase the percentage of
billable time for conservators and support staff, and implement new
software that organized and accounted for the use of their time.
Understanding where hours were spent made it easier to defend billings and
to negotiate contracts.
Now, the Guardianship team
achieves its percentage goals of billable time per office. There are a
specific numbers of caseloads per conservator, and staff turnover has been
reduced. The Guardianship service line has since met or exceeded its
revenue budget, and program deficits have been eliminated.
"Process improvement is a
rigorous process of self-examination," said Jim Holmes, who leads the
Guardianship team in the Moorhead area. "Risk taking is involved as old
ways have to be set aside and new practices implemented. On balance,
Guardianship has found process improvement to be more beneficial than we
thought it would be when we first started the process."
Employees news goes from
monthly to daily
One example of an ongoing
process improvement is Link Today, the online employee newsletter of LSS.
Link Today has its origins in 1916, when the Inner Mission Herald became
the official newsletter of the Lutheran Welfare Society of Minnesota. The
masthead has been used since then to communicate the work of predecessor
organizations of Lutheran Social Service. The Link has been the employee
newsletter since 1957.
In May 2001, the paper version
of the Link was converted from a monthly to a bi-monthly, and the
newsletter was accessible on one page of the newly-created LSS Intranet.
In April 2002, the Link format changed to include a rotating selection of
individual stories of the Intranet's home page. In its current form,
employees can scan the headlines of seven individual stories. Three to
five new stories are written and posted each week.
"Before the LSS Intranet,
employees received a monthly newsletter, and the news became a bit dated
by the time employees received it," said Bill Fredell, LSS Director of
Communications. "Now, we have daily news that reaches the majority of our
employees. Our communications have bigger impact and are more timely than
we could achieve without this process improvement."
EvolvCS will streamline
client and billing information
Process improvements currently
being worked on include a new software tool called EvolvCS. It is now
being implemented for several lines of service, most notably, Home and
Community Living Services and Family Based Foster Care Services. EvolvCS
will streamline the handling of an incredible amount of client and billing
information. Individuals being served in LSS programs have several kinds
of information that need to be tracked, and there has not been a
consistent, electronic way to manage that data. Reporting and
information-sharing on paper is difficult at best. EvolvCS will increase
the efficiency of the work being done.
Also, the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) has set forth new
regulations that require LSS to maintain standards relative to the
security and privacy of client information in certain lines of service.
HIPAA also requires a new format for submitting claims to funders for
reimbursement. EvolvCS will help LSS to comply with those new regulations.
"Timeliness of information is
becoming more critical," said Gary Kilgard, Director, Information
Technology at LSS. "Organizations who invest in technology to meet those
needs will be the organizations that are able to maintain and even expand
the services they offer. The EvolvCS application is an integral part of
using technology to optimize our service delivery systems."
Credit counseling tool will
help clients get out of debt online
Process improvements on the
horizon include an online counseling tool for the LSS Financial
Counseling/Credit Counseling Service. Customers who are having financial
difficulty will be able to submit all the financial information needed to
work with an LSS counselor through a secure internet web site, 24 hours a
day. The site will be able to share information with the Financial
Counseling/Credit Counseling billing system, so less data entry is
required. Counselors will be freed up to spend time with clients rather
than doing paperwork. The web site will also help customers self-identify
themselves as those who can be helped by the counseling tool.
Process improvement is really
all about creating systems for clients and employees that maximize our
efficiency and maximize every dollar LSS has. LSS is improving program
performance continually by identifying key problems through
self-assessment, standardizing policies and procedures, implementing
software programs to reduce paperwork and improve efficiency, marketing to
key stakeholders, and measuring performance. The work is ongoing, but LSS
is committed to innovation and expanding capacity for those in need.
