LiveCare – Transformative Technology for the Developmental Disabilities Community

“We are excited to partner with OnSeen to implement LiveCare for the Developmental Disabilities Community so we can improve the efficiency of our in-residence processes, lower our administrative costs, and improve the service delivery and experience for our Consumers.” Rich Johnson, CEO, ViaQuest

COLUMBUS, Ohio (PRWEB)
October 25, 2019

OnSeen, Inc. announced today that it is unveiling its LiveCare Technology Solution to Ohio Developmental Disabilities Providers at the 2019 OPRA Fall Conference. LiveCare is a transformative technology solution for DD Service Providers that seamlessly connects Consumers, In-Home Caregivers, Provider Supervisors and Managers, and Guardians through an affordable, easy-to-use, mobile-web platform. In doing so, LiveCare: (1) increases the efficiency and reduces the cost of in-home Caregiver admin tasks; (2) increases the mobility of DD Consumers to attend outside appointments and activities; and (3) provides electronic visit verification (“EVV”) of Caregivers at the Consumer’s residence. LiveCare supports the collective missions of OPRA, the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities and the Ohio DD Community by helping DD Providers improve service delivery so that individuals with developmental disabilities can lead increasingly independent, productive, and integrated lives.

LiveCare for the Ohio DD community is comprised of 3 modules: (1) Consumer Financial Account Management Module; (2) Consumer Transportation Management Module; and (3) Caregiver Appointment and Task Management Module. With these three modules, LiveCare provides real-time, 360 degree visibility and control of Consumer financial account management, Consumer transportation, and in-home Caregiver processes. OnSeen partnered with ViaQuest, a leading DD Service and Transportation Provider, to implement LiveCare to manage its in-home Consumer financial account management and Consumer transportation management processes. “Our administrative processes prior to LiveCare were mostly manual and less efficient than we wanted. At the same time, communications with and visibility to our in-residence Caregiver activities were inherently delayed and restricted,” said Rich Johnson, CEO of ViaQuest. “Given our mission to transform the way home care services are delivered, we are excited to partner with OnSeen to implement LiveCare so we can improve the efficiency of our in-residence care processes, lower our administrative costs, and improve the service delivery and experience for our Consumers.”

OnSeen is offering 2019 OPRA Fall Conference attendees a 25 percent discount on all LiveCare Fees, including its upfront implementation fees and ongoing monthly SaaS fees. Any 2019 OPRA Fall Conference Attendee who schedules an appointment with a member of the OnSeen Executive Team during the Conference is eligible for this Special Offer. “The principal objective of our LiveCare Solution is to help home healthcare providers deliver higher quality service and more positive experiences for persons with developmental disabilities.” said Mike Lanese, CEO of OnSeen. “We are thrilled to be a Platinum Sponsor of the 2019 OPRA Fall Conference and to make this Special Offer to this amazing group of Providers that deliver critical services to Ohio DD Community.”

About OnSeen:

OnSeen is a Mobile Workforce Management (MWM) solution. Its command and control platform for mobile workforces and teams helps organizations coordinate their people, places, and things. The OnSeen mobile team solution connects all the stakeholders involved in a remote field process (e.g. home office management, field staff or contractors, customers, partners). With OnSeen, managers can dispatch, monitor, and task their remote team members, provide real-time status updates to all stakeholders with a vested interest in the process, and facilitate tightly integrated collaboration across their remote teams. OnSeen currently serves the insurance, government, and transportation sectors. The common thread among clients in these verticals is a need for a tool that provides real-time situational awareness, resource allocation, intelligent routing, workforce collaboration and communication for their inherently mobile teams.

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Minnesota’s most populous county is changing its foster care system, from a reactive child protective model to a proactive model that strengthens families.

“Child maltreatment is a problem that has multiple roots – poverty, domestic violence, mental illness and chemical addiction,” DeCubellis said. “We know that incidents of maltreatment will continue to increase unless we change our approach from reactive to proactive.”

MINNEAPOLIS (PRWEB)
October 25, 2019

KVC Institute Model Eases Transition from Child Protection to Child Well-being

Hennepin County is flipping its child protection system from reactive to proactive — to improve outcomes for children and families, address the system’s disparities and transform the workplace culture.

KVC’s Safe & Connected™ Consultation & Information Sharing Framework® has been instrumental in making this shift.

“It helps us look at the case from a different perspective,” said Annie Jordan, Hennepin County child protection practitioner.

Responding To a Need for Change

Hennepin County is the largest county in Minnesota, with 1.25 million residents and 274,000 children. In 2018, Hennepin County’s Child Protection Intake took 18,005 referrals. Of those, 8,873 were screened in as child protection reports and went to investigations. With a high number and volume of child protection involvement and disproportionate number of Native American and African American youth involved, transformation has never been more important.

Deputy County Administrator Jennifer DeCubellis and other leaders have identified intersecting issues that play a role in family stress and well-being. Hennepin County leaders are shifting resources to early identification, intervention and prevention – moving services upstream to help families sooner, prior to child protection involvement, with the hope of preventing trauma from ever happening.

“Child maltreatment is a problem that has multiple roots – poverty, domestic violence, mental illness and chemical addiction – in families and in our society,” DeCubellis said. “We know that incidents of maltreatment will continue to increase unless we change our approach from reactive to proactive.”

Transforming the Approach to Child Protection

Hennepin County’s Children and Family Services began a partnership with KVC Health Systems in January of 2018. KVC consultants spent the first four months getting to know Hennepin County’s structure, processes, and practitioners. Then they slowly began introducing the consultation framework in high priority areas in child protection and children’s services. By the end of summer, the Safe & Connected™ framework was implemented across all of Children and Family Services.

This evidence-backed KVC model is helping Hennepin County’s Children and Family Services transform their approach to child protection by:

Infusing critical thinking, collaboration and transparency throughout the decision-making process.

Using collaborative decision making at key points in the child protection process, from intake and screening to investigations and ongoing case management.

The Safe & Connected™ framework has also been implemented in children’s mental health, education partnerships with schools for county-involved youth, and the courts.

Using the Safe & Connected™ framework takes more time up front, however, by slowing down the process, Hennepin County is starting to see results. Practitioners are sharing knowledge, involving families sooner and using critical thinking to approach cases differently and solve problems. Together, teams of practitioners are embracing a new practice that is better serving children and families.

Shifting From “I” to “We”

Thanks to the KVC model, a multi-disciplinary review team comprised of representatives from child protection, public health, and the attorney’s office collectively decide what happens to child protection referrals. The Intake Review Teams are led by a neutral facilitator through a discussion using the Safe & Connected™ framework. Together, they agree on what avenue a referral should go down – screened out or screened in – and whether other services and supports could benefit the family.

“We are shifting it from ‘my work’ to ‘our work’ – it’s not just falling on one person’s shoulders. Now it’s on the shoulders of the entire team,” said Child Protection Intake Program Manager Michelle Seymore.

Autumn Heller, an ongoing child protection supervisor agreed: “My whole unit has appreciated the framework because they can process cases together and receive input from one another,” she said. “Practitioners are saying they don’t feel as alone. They feel validated for their hard work and decisions.”

Infusing Critical Thinking and Shared Problem Solving

Practitioners have more time for processing and problem-solving. Using the framework helps them take a step back and look at the larger picture.

“We get flooded with details…. this helps us take a more distant perspective,” said a child protection supervisor, Cassandra McClurg.

“It’s helped us have conversations about cultural differences, race, and religion…to take that into account,” said David Maghakian, child protection practitioner. “We are constantly putting on different ‘glasses’ and keeping each other in check about our biases.”

The framework allows for discussions about complicating factors and gives space for the ‘grey areas,’ which leads to more thoughtful critical thinking about a family’s situation.

Focusing on Families to Build Trust

In addition to adopting the KVC model, Hennepin County uses evidence-based practices such as Family Group Decision Making and Critical Family Response meetings to involve families sooner. These voluntary meetings bring together family members, supporters, stakeholders, and practitioners for a discussion with a neutral facilitator. Together, the group identifies resources and supports, and collectively solves problems.

“Instead of being reactionary and defensive, we are slowing down and working with families like the human beings they are,” Leah Olsson, child protection practitioner, said. By operating intentionally from trust, honesty and openness, “The communities and parents trust us more.”

Lindsay Guthrie, Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) child protection practitioner, described her experience. “I detected a lot of emotion because the family finally had the space to express their worries for mom and children in a safe space,” she said. “The mom had her own voice and talked about her concerns as well.”

“The family wanted things in the safety plan that we hadn’t even talked about. They came up with their own unique plan – they made it in a way that would work for them,” Lindsay said.

Overall, practitioners have been enthusiastic about using KVC’s Safe & Connected™ Consultation & Information Sharing Framework®. The process has helped them to slow down and work more effectively as a team, share knowledge and engage in critical thinking – and ultimately serve families better.

By flipping the system to focus on well-being and early intervention, practitioners are better equipped to prevent crisis and trauma. In the process, Hennepin County’s Children and Family Services is strengthening and supporting families and communities.

Independent Evaluation

This implementation of Safe & Connected™ is part of a developmental evaluation through NORC at the University of Chicago with two research partners, Dr. Meg Hargreaves and Dr. Erin Watson. Hennepin County and KVC Health Systems look forward to sharing the results of this independent evaluation of the child welfare transformation’s effectiveness.

Learn More

KVC Health Systems helps health and human service agencies excel at caring for families with the most complex needs through a proven model that improves people’s health, their experience of care, and costs. Learn more about our areas of expertise in child welfare, behavioral healthcare and population health or explore training, consultation and ongoing partnership opportunities.

Special thanks to Liz Wiggen, Communications Specialist for Hennepin County Human Services, and Dr. Suzanne Lohrbach, creator of Safe & Connected™ and Executive Director of the KVC Institute, for their assistance with this article.

See more details and photos from this project on the KVC website.