The Hidden Costs of Using Spreadsheets & Home-Grown Systems for Record-Keeping

Cost and funding distribution are key considerations for directors and case managers of behavioral health, mental health, and developmental disability services agencies. Here-and-now questions often take center stage: Do we have enough counselors to serve all of our clients? Are we in compliance? Can we provide timely proof of how we’re doing overall? What are the costs of using spreadsheets as opposed to a digital system? Whether to digitize or not to digitize agency operations can seem uncorrelated and is often relegated to a “maybe later.”

Though it may seem like sticking to the status quo would cost the agency less and allow the team to focus more on service delivery, paper-based and homegrown record-keeping methods often multiply the very problems they aim to solve. As a result, agencies are going digital at record rates — some by mandate. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), for example, set a deadline of June 30, 2024 for all federal agencies to manage both permanent and temporary records digitally, aiming to increase efficiency, transparency, and compliance.

The team at Foothold Technology and their AWARDS EHR system would like to help you decide the best way forward by peeling back your agency’s top priorities and exposing some of the hidden costs of manual record-keeping. 

For those interested in diving deeper into the solution and sharing findings with colleagues, you’ll find a link to our complimentary guide in the conclusion. 

Hidden Costs of Spreadsheets in Human Services

Cost in human services is not as simple as a balance sheet with procurement and other expense entries listed. It’s a category that comprises how efficiently, effectively, securely, and flexibly you work. The hidden costs of homegrown systems and spreadsheets in Human Services show up everywhere. 

Operational Inefficiency

Manual record management and homegrown systems lead to repetitive work, data silos, and wasted time. Fast-accruing delays result when key information is in a binder, behind a locked door, instead of just a few clicks away. Valuable time is also lost when records are updated but not made universally available in real time. And the ultimate disruption, an audit, cuts deeply across your staff.

High Error Rates

Bad data costs organizations $12.9M in 2021 according to Gartner, and staff can’t make sound decisions based on inaccurate or outmoded information. It creates a misstep-and-recovery pattern that takes managers and counselors away from clients and is entirely avoidable.

Compliance Risks

Failure to meet Medicaid and HIPAA requirements can result in hundreds to millions of dollars in penalties. Without a unified system of record to reference, work tracking, security and regulatory reporting are labor-intensive tasks that must be done on demand, increasing the risk of noncompliance. 

Security and Privacy Concerns

Paper can too easily be tampered with or become damaged or misplaced. Agencies and other organizations are taking extra measures to secure sensitive client information. Digitized methods can evolve along with the latest threats. 

Inability To Scale With Demand

Demand for your agency’s services can balloon quickly due to a range of economic, population-based, and environmental factors. At the same time, regulatory requirements are constantly evolving. Spreadsheets for data management don’t have the ability to scale and help your team respond nimbly to new needs in your community.

How AWARDS EHR Reduces Costs & Helps You Deliver Better Service

With an AWARDS EHR system, the tools to tackle efficiency, transparency, compliance, and security are built into every workflow:

1. Transform billing from a full-time job to a task that can be done accurately in a day, securely transferred with a single button click. 
2. The client information you need is just a few clicks away and available to all who are authorized to see it, accelerating the timeline to a successful outcome. 
3. When a case is updated, the update is visible in real time, helping your agency cut down on redundant work and errors.  
4. Equip your managers with high-level service delivery data so they can answer “How are we doing?” on demand.
5. Empower your team to cooperate more transparently and efficiently with agency partners and reporting bodies.  
6. 256-bit encryption, multi-factor authenticity, and security awareness initiatives help keep sensitive client information secure and limited to those who should see it.
7. Nimbly manage internal and external audits with a unified system of record. 
8. Avoid costly compliance penalties.

AWARDS EHR At Work

Camelot Counseling staff used to spend hours managing paper documents in binders. They “realized that going paperless would save us time, keep us organized, and in turn allow us to help more people.”

Today, they are able to use those hours to collaborate directly with their clients to review goals and make progress toward recovery. 

“The upfront work takes commitment and top level support, but it was well worth the effort. Shortly after implementing AWARDS across all our programs, we received a perfect score on an audit!” 

– Logan Lewis, Director of Compliance and Quality Assurance, Camelot Counseling 

Conclusion & Next Steps

Business as usual — manual record-keeping or homegrown systems — seems more cost-effective and less disruptive on the surface than making a change. But when we peel it back and look at the reality, the costs of using spreadsheets and delaying a digital transition are too great to ignore. More efficient and effective operations, airtight compliance and security, and nimble billing and scaling are all within reach. 

CTA: Has your agency outgrown spreadsheets? Find out how a digital solution can transform your operations and improve care quality. 

Download the free guide to learn more.