While supporting clients is what got providers into the business, compliance costs are what drive most of the overhead costs.
We’ve already dug through the physical costs of paper and the labor costs of handling paper.
So what do we mean by compliance costs?
For providers who use paper, it’s the additional overhead costs of supervising the entire paper documentation process.
This typically means three things:
1. Ongoing monitoring of supervisors
2. Ongoing training and remediation
3. Costs of non-compliance
Ongoing Monitoring
Each agency has its own method for monitoring supervisors and their work.
Some jump through hoops to run extra billing and time verifications. Some select random files each payroll to review for errors and completeness. Some owners or directors micromanage the entire process every week.
The costs here are time & exhaustion.
The time cost is how much time owners and administrators are spending trying to catch what falls through the cracks. And since the paper systems don’t tell you when something might need attention, it takes lots of time looking for errors that may not exist.
Mental exhaustion and burnout is the other cost. The daily grind of looking for errors (even if there aren’t any) and correcting leaves a major toll on owners, administrators, and even the rest of the staff!
Ongoing Training & Remediation
While some training is required for compliance, the majority of providers will agree they spend more time training and remediating than they should.
Why?
Because everything is manual and paper can’t prevent DSPs or staff from making errors.
So providers rely on constant training and remediation in hopes of reducing the amount of time spent searching and correcting.
Non-Compliance
This is a major cost.
The good news: it’s only a cost if something falls through the cracks.
The bad news: the fear of non-compliance drives up the two costs mentioned above and if auditors find errors, the penalties can be costly.
Just representing yourself against allegations of non-compliance can be an enormous burden.
The Takeaway
The costs of compliance aren’t just financial. They’re also mental and physical.
Even if a digital system only saved agencies from 80% of the mental and emotional stress of compliance, it would make a world of difference for everyone involved!