The Shared Jobs Story

Some people, due to developmental handicaps, need help from the people around them. Sometimes, they need a lot of help, and this can get expensive. In the State of New York, funding for this help comes from Medicaid and state-funded services such as the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD). Among other things, the OPWDD provides…

On paper, resources like the OPWDD are a lifesaver for individuals and families working hard to manage a Self-Direction Plan. But dealing with a state agency to gain funding can be a complex undertaking fraught with regulatory hurdles, compliance traps, and a mountain of paperwork. These barriers are overwhelming to a family who’s trying to support a loved one. That’s where a Financial Intermediary (FI) like Independent Support Services (ISS) (issny.org) comes in.

ISS helps families connect with the service providers they need, and manages their Self-Direction Plans, payrolls, timesheets, state reporting, and much more. It’s a tremendous data management challenge compounded by a significant compliance challenge, and ISS handles all of it so that families can focus on what really matters to them, their loved ones.

ISS is able to do all of the above and more with the support of a system built and maintained for them by Harmonic! We at Harmonic have been working with ISS for over 10 years, constantly extending and improving their custom software solution. This solution, built extensively on Claris FileMaker Pro, employs a great deal of MySQL and web development.

Using the solution we built, which ISS dubbed “Harmonix”, ISS has been able to grow from 15 employees serving hundreds of self-direction participants to 150 employees serving thousands of self-direction participants! In fact, Harmonix and other interrelated systems form a software stack that now reaches a constellation of over 10,000 people. One of the most important functions Harmonix is used for is to track the time spent by support staff, submit it to payroll, do all the proper payroll accounting, and also submit
these payroll expenses to Medicaid for reimbursement. Of course, it is ISS’s responsibility to manage and submit this payroll in compliance with state and federal Medicaid rules and in compliance with New York State Workforce Commission policies.

Sometimes, one support staff person spends time supporting multiple participants at once. In theory, the Self-Direction program has previously facilitated the ability to bill for group jobs, but properly accounting for support staff time was tricky. Doing so would have required family members or ISS employees to be meticulous spreadsheet keepers. This “solution” falls apart in a system where scalability and compliance are of paramount importance. Most support staff, faced with how difficult it is to manage time in a way that abides by the regulations and is fair to themselves, decided group jobs weren’t worth it. This meant that families with multiple kids enrolled in self-direction programs weren’t getting the help they needed.