Improving the Accuracy of Home Visitors’ Timesheets by Analyzing Home Visiting Reports
Narrative
In order to better understand how Home Visitors were spending their time and to improve timecard coding issues, Ashtabula County Community Action Agency (ACCAA) began a process of analyzing timesheet data with home visiting reports. This analysis informed several components of program operation, including time card coding and coaching for home visitors around best practices with families. ACCA’s Director, Systems Coordinator, and Home Visiting Manager reviewed this data monthly and provided guidance and coaching to home visitors to improve any issues identified.
Analysis
ACCAA pulled data from three sources: Home Visit summary reports, Home Visit cancellation reports, and Home Visitor timesheets into one large file.
There were several columns they calculated from the raw data in order to inform their analysis. These included:
Number of visits (on average) completed per family in a Home Visitor’s caseload.
Number of visits (on average) scheduled per family in a Home Visitor’s caseload.
Attendance and Past Due percentages: How many visits were completed out of the number scheduled (attendance) and the number of visits that were past due (neither completed nor cancelled) out of the number scheduled.
More specifically, the “Paid – Avg per Visit” column was critical in identifying coding issues. This column calculates the difference between the number of hours a Home Visitor put on their time card for visits and the number of hours they should have spent on home visits. Cells with a negative value showed an issue with coding, because Home Visitors were paid for fewer hours than they actually spent with families. In response, time sheet codes were changed by Payroll and the Home Based Supervisor discussed coding with all of the Home Visitors.
Managers also looked at cancellation and past due data with Home Visitors to understand patterns in families’ cancellations.
After analyzing the cancellation rates, ACCAA held conversations with all of the Home Visitors to try to understand why the rates varied significantly. What they learned was that some workers were calling families to confirm their scheduled visit before setting out to drive to the home. By asking families if they were able to keep their appointment, they were opening up an opportunity for families to cancel at the last minute. Home Visitors that did not call their families in advance of going to the home had a lower cancellation rate.
Results
ACCAA saw significant improvements in the accuracy of coding on Home Visitors’ timesheets as a result of the regular reviews and follow-ups with staff. They have also seen cancellation rates decrease after eliminating the pre-visit phone calls. After this success, ACCAA is planning to replicate this analysis for the 2020-2021 program year to continue improving.
Additional details
Audience: Leadership, management
Level of Analysis: Program
Difficulty: Moderate
Content Area: Home Visiting, program management
Data Sources: Microsoft Excel, Timesheets, Home Visiting Reports
Technical Appendix
The Excel template can be downloaded here, and the following details explain each column.
A. Last name
B. First name
C. Month
D. Year
E. Case Name
F. Attendance Rate (Completed Visits / Scheduled Visits)
G. Number of families in case load
H. Number of visits scheduled according to Home Visiting Reports
I. Number of visits completed according to Home Visiting Reports
J-O. Number of visits cancelled for the listed reasons according to Home Visiting Reports
P. Number of visits past due according to Home Visiting Reports (Any visits that were not completed or cancelled are considered past due)
Q. Past Due Rate (Past Due / Scheduled Visits)
R-T. Hours paid in each pay period according to timesheets
U. Total hours paid this month (Sum of columns R-T)
V. Expected Time Spent on Visits (based on a calculation of how many completed visits * 1.5 hours per visit)
W. Difference between hours paid (Column U) and expected hours spent on home visits (Column V)
X. Average visits received per family, calculated as number of completed visits (Column I) divided by number of families in case load (Column G)
Y. Average visits scheduled per family, calculated as number of scheduled visits (Column H) divided by number of families in case load (Column G)
Examples of Questions to Ask:
Which home visitors have a lot of cancelled visits, why is that, and how can we reduce cancellations?
Which home visitors have a high rate of visits past due, why is that, and how can we help them reduce past due visits?
How many hours do home visitors spend with families compared to hours billed?
Which of our home visitors have really high caseloads? Who is scheduling and who is completing the most home visits per family? What can we learn from this to help improve efficiency and effectiveness as a group?
Contact
Dave Jordan
Systems Coordinator
Ashtabula County Community Action Agency