Last week we covered five costs associated with manual timesheet processes at ABA therapy clinics. Despite factors like inaccuracy and unreliability, paper handling costs and duplicate data entry, many ABA therapy clinics continue to manage timesheets manually. Perhaps your clinic is one of them.
This week we’ll cover five reasons to make the switch over to an autism clinic management solution that automates these processes. You’ll see how you can reduce, if not eliminate, many of the costs covered in last week’s post as well as bring additional benefits to your clinic.
Reliable Accuracy and Automated Notifications
Automated systems offer a number of ways to reduce data inaccuracies and occurrences of time theft. One way is by recording when your clinical staff punches in and out over a secure web browser, from an electronic time clock or even through a mobile device. The data is then transferred over directly to the timesheet system instead of risking errors during manual transfer.
Additionally, most systems alert supervisors to early or late in/out punches in real time. Alerts like these allow supervisors to address workforce attendance issues early, before they become larger problems.
With more accurate time and attendance data, your clinic gains clearer insight into its true labor costs.
Eliminate Paper Handling, Double Data Entry and Error Costs
With autism clinic management software, the entire payroll can be processed in less than half the time it takes to process it manually. This is because timesheets can be electronically signed and submitted over the web. Many software solutions support multiple layouts for different viewer preferences and let users compare the number of hours provided versus hours authorized.
Software can also compute totals automatically, eliminating the risk of human error, and even indicate whether timesheets were submitted on time. For ABA therapy clinics located in the State of California, the software contains all the information needed to automatically generate DS 5862 Forms and have them electronically signed by patients’ parents or legal guardians, eliminating the need to travel back to the clinic to hand in signatures.
It all adds up to much-appreciated cost savings. Consider the following example of a clinic with 25 administrators and 50 therapists:
| Cost Type | Time Spent/File | Number of Files/Staff | Number of Admin. Staff | Hourly Rate (Admin.) | Amount Saved |
| Printing and Filing | 15 minutes | 25 | 10 | $25 | $1,562.50
|
| Paper Handling | 5 hours | 25 | 10 | $25 | $1,250 |
| Cost Type | Time Spent/Distance | Number of Therapists | Opportunity Cost/Therapist | Amount Saved |
| Travel Time | 75 minutes | 50 | $100 | $7,500 |
| Gas Reimbursement | 33 miles | 50 | $0.56 per mile | $924 |
These saved amounts add up to about $10,000 per week. By switching to automated timesheets, your clinic can experience savings as well.
Access Timesheets on the Go
Once your clinic ensures that operational systems are connected to mobile features, the benefits of automated timesheets can be fully realized. When connected, the best autism clinic software allows staff to access timesheets online and on both Apple and Android tablets and smartphones.
Since ABA therapists rarely need to come into the office anymore, the importance of bolstering a time-sensitive workforce has also increased significantly. Clinics can increase the value of their time by taking advantage of predictive mobile apps like automatic timesheets, which can seamlessly track and report activities and manage status updates on important tasks. The end result is that therapists will no longer need to manually fill in every minute of their time, because their mobile devices will handle the administrative work for them.
Software with a mobile timesheet app enables users to:
- Clock in and out, verify the correct duration of work, and guarantee an automatic submittal of the timesheet at the end of the work day
- Update the status of their assignment
- Manage entire teams while viewing counters and statistics
- Send reminders to staff members regarding overtime hours, breaks and clocking in
- Ensure more accurate Billing and Payroll
Bottom-Line Savings
Your clinic’s investment in a modernized, specialized timesheet system can provide a positive return on investment relatively quickly, often within the first year of ownership.
And once you are in the positive, the savings only increase from there. As previously noted, you’ll see a reduction in human-generated payroll errors, the elimination of time theft and overtime costs, and saved wages from increased productivity.
There are also indirect cost savings that come with making the switch to specialized autism clinic management software. An automated timesheet system can give you better insight into your clinical staff’s work, the amount of time spent on their work and the return on investment of their work. This information allows you to more appropriately and proportionately allocate labor across your clinic.
For example, if you have a staff member who constantly claims overtime, you may decide to have a time management discussion with that person to determine whether he or she is using the work week wisely to complete projects or if he or she is just temporarily experiencing a surge of additional work that demands overtime. Then you can make adjustments accordingly.
Increased Staff Morale
Staff members are empowered when they have access to their own information through technology. That empowerment is a level of shared control between the clinic’s leadership and its staff, and it makes for a better relationship with a positive effect on your ABA therapy clinic’s culture. The benefits of engaged staff members and therapists are numerous — they are more enthusiastic, contribute ideas, and are optimistic about the clinic and its future. Increased morale at the clinic translates into better service for patients and their families.
With benefits like those listed above, there’s no reason not to switch over to an autism clinic management solution to automate your timesheet processes. While there will be an adjustment period as there would be with any change in workflow, the benefits clearly outweigh any momentary blip in productivity. Not only will you save time and money, but you’ll get more productive and happy employees as well.
Want to experience timesheet automation yourself? Try Autism Clinic Software free for 30 days.
