Bay Aging, a Virginia-based agency, provides the programs and services that people of all ages need to live independently in their communities. Most notably, Bay Aging has been at the forefront of providing Veteran-Directed Care in the region since 2011. Under the leadership of Melissa Blake, the Director of Veteran Directed Care, the organization has made significant strides in serving 700 veterans across Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina, with plans for expansion into eight additional states and territories in the future.
Traditionally, Bay Aging has provided aging services across a 10-county area in Virginia, but recently, their Veteran-Directed Care programs have experienced considerable expansion beyond these original borders. With the growth of their Veteran services, certain processes became a significant bottleneck for growth and efficiency. “Before FMS Engine, we had a very manual process. We were processing manual paper timesheets, and our employment and employee packets were all on paper. As we grew, that manual process became cumbersome, and we were looking for a tool that would help us automate so that we could embrace opportunities for expansion” Blake explains.
When evaluating solutions to alleviate the manual burden and help them scale, they turned to the HHAeXchange FMS Engine. “We knew that FMS Engine was designed specifically for the work that we did in Self-Direction, and that’s one of the things that drew us to the product because we knew that it was designed for the specific tasks that we were completing every day,” says Blake.
With the help of the HHAeXchange onboarding team, Bay Aging was able to get FMS Engine up and running and tailored specifically to their Self-Direction needs. “Implementation did take a little bit of time, but we had a great implementation team. Once we got through all of the necessary updates and the intricacies that applied to Bay Aging, it was it was fabulous. We like to call FMS Engine a train that’s running on an engine. If all of the engine parts are functioning properly, you can’t stop this train.”
Shortly after implementation, Blake observed notable enhancements in their processes. With FMS Engine, automation of timesheets and employee information processing allowed for more efficient operations and enabled the organization to handle a larger volume of work. “We would not be able to process 1000 employee time sheets every two weeks manually with the staff that we have. That’s what FMS Engine did for us.” Blake also explained how automating these processes allowed them to see the benefits in their billing, “We experienced claims being paid more rapidly. All information is contained within FMS Engine, so time sheets and invoices flow right into the billing module and then we’ve got the claim. It’s just immediate.”
Melissa Blake, Director of Veteran Directed Care, Bay Aging
Bay Aging was also pleasantly surprised that their elderly population was able to adopt this new technology. Though there was some initial resistance with the electronic timesheets, once adoption took off, they were able to surpass their goals of encouraging widespread use. “Our goal was to have 90% of our employees submitting timesheets electronically. Now we’re at about 96%.” The transition to electronic timesheets not only streamlined timesheet submission but also empowered veterans and their caregivers to embrace other technological tools. “They’re so proud of themselves when they submit their first electronic timesheet. They can use the knowledge that they gained through that process to do things like FaceTime with their grandchildren or read an article on the Internet. It’s been really inspiring to see the veterans and their employees learn how to use this technology,” Blake shares.
After seeing how impactful the FMS Engine modules were to their operations, Bay Aging even reconfigured their organizational structure based on these modules, creating specialized roles such as enrollment manager, billing manager, and customer service manager. Blake explains, “It really helped us to fine-tune the different modules and different services that we were offering to all of our employers and our employees.”
Streamlining these manual processes, empowering their population, and fully integrating FMS Engine into their organization enabled them to scale and achieve the growth they set out to accomplish. “We started working with FMS about 4 years ago and we probably had approximately 500 Veterans at that time. We have grown to about 700 currently, and our employees have probably doubled in that time,” Blake shares. “We’re really excited about what FMS Engine has done for our program and the opportunities that have evolved because of the automation that the software has provided for us.”
The implementation of FMS Engine signified more than just an upgrade in software; it represented a shift in organizational culture and a reimagining of what was possible.