Records Management for Government Social Services Agencies

Complying with Government Funding Guidelines while Ensuring Family Privacy

The State of California provides incentives to low-income families to assist young mothers in the workplace with child support services. Crystal Stairs, Inc. is the largest such non-profit organization in the greater Los Angeles area appointed by the state to provide such services.

Crystal Stairs has been in operation for nearly 30 years, operating out of two large corporate facilities and several satellite offices. They process some 75,000 claims per month and are responsible for validating service providers — those organizations and individuals who assist mothers, prospective parents and their children.

Crystal Stairs also disburses payments to the service providers and is responsible for associated accounting processes for the State. As with any non-profit, government-funded agency, substantial auditing is required.

Crystal Stairs faces complex records management challenges due to its tens of thousands of individual transactions with individuals and organizations. Claims processing includes an intensive, manual workflow of approvals, so Crystal Stairs strives for smooth data flow, 100% accuracy, minimal redundancy (many documents are returned for incomplete or missing data), and accurate customer service.

The documentation process is complex, as both parents and service providers are obligated to manually complete a wide range of forms on a frequent basis and submit them to Crystal Stairs for approval and processing. Once a family qualifies and a provider is appointed, the organization begins processing claims for childcare services.

Crystal Stairs called upon Global Archives to design and implement a comprehensive records management system to meet its goals in claims processing and lower operating costs.

Ensuring Efficiency through Automation Amidst Budget Constraints

Constrained by budget cuts, Crystal Stairs relies upon outdated software to process claims. The system is unable to keep pace with the volume of claims, lacks auditing capability, and addresses each claim individually while ignoring supporting documents and validation documents.

Global Archives implemented a step-by-step approach to address issues whose solutions would yield the most recognizable results first.

1. Converted legacy and day-forward claims so that during audits, Crystal Stairs could quickly and accurately verify the payment streams. This task was accomplished by first designing a LockBox database that would encompass all key index claim data necessary to enable auditors and Crystal Stairs staff to quickly locate claims for audit. To reduce audit time, the database was organized to allow for temporary users (auditors) to be granted access to specific ranges of claims, thereby reducing time on site and staying focused on the range of claims for the audit.
2. A data capture utility was designed to recognize the claim form (the company prepared two types of claims) and extract a unique barcode for claim identification. This barcode was then used to make inquiries in the Crystal Stairs claims database. Once a match was validated, all demographics, financial and other accounting data was captured and placed into the meta/index tags of the claim image and then uploaded into LockBox.
3. During the data capture, specific service fee calculations were made and compared against the providers’ entries. Those results were then made available to the Crystal Stairs administrator in the form of a LockBox report that was delivered via spreadsheet. This spreadsheet was then used to assist during the audit phase.
4. In as much as some 75,000 claims a month were being processed, a high number of claims that were processed needed to be reprinted and made available to the provider. This was done in person at the company’s front office in their main complex. Global Archives converted this manual process to an electronic reprint system. To show that the claim had been paid, Global Archives provided an interface with the third party distribution/check writing contractor and captured the payment details together with the claim, now residing in LockBox, and enabled a print copy to be made while the client waited. This system reduced the client wait time from 3 hours to 10 minutes and greatly improved customer satisfaction.
5. Created a web-based electronic form folder to standardize internal and some state forms to help automate Parent and Provider qualification. Allowed those forms to be filed in the respective electronic folders along with other supporting documentation and claims. This reduced (still in progress) much of the paperwork. Some documents could not be converted due to State regulations and were required to be manually handwritten and scanned and then imported to their LockBox account folder.
6. Converted Provider 1099 forms and cancelled checks to electronic images with searchable metadata and uploaded to LockBox.

Global Archives planned and built a scalable document management system to automate and control all Provider and Parent information and resulting claims and payments as they progressed through the system. Because of the confidential nature of all participant profiles and required controls for financial transaction, the designated service must meet the rigid trust, confidentiality and security requirements of the state. Data governance for Crystal Stairs as instituted by Global Archives is validated under SAS70 guidelines.

Says Ella Pennington, Vice President of Operations, Crystal Stairs, Inc., “Global Archives partnered with us to identify creative, out-of-the box solutions that are practical, sustainable, and that work within our constrained, highly regulated industry. As a result, we’ve achieved huge efficiencies from Global Archives projects that improve our customer service and our bottom line.”