About NurtureCare

Meet Julie Black, Nurture Care Owner

Nurture Care has been enhancing the lives of seniors through referring caregivers in the Northern Virginia area. The company is 25 years old and has remained family-owned and operated since 1998.

Julie Black, owner of Nurture Care, grew up in the home care business and has 40 years of home care work under her belt. Julie and her team are dedicated to treating each client and caregiver with respect and compassion, priding themselves on referring trained and experienced caregivers.

Since Nurture Care’s inception, times and regulations changed, altering how their day-to-day operations take place. 

Challenges and Need for Change

Technology Updates to Move with the Times

Home care technology hasn’t been around for that long, but the progress they’ve made has moved the industry forward in big ways. Until 2019, Nurture Care had caregivers pay the registry fee themselves.

Their business was set up so caregivers filled out a timesheet, and clients paid caregivers directly. In turn, caregivers would pay the registry a referral fee.

Payment Challenges 

The hectic nature of relying on caregivers to pay their referral fee was unstable and unreliable. The Nurture Care team wanted to find a solution that alleviated that burden and compliance risk and made operations easier.

Staying Compliant

The regulatory environment for home care registries is constantly changing. Nurture Care needed a solution that would keep their records secure while supporting compliance needs that were unique to registries that traditional home care software didn’t offer.

READ MORE: Home Care Regulation That Effects Independent Contractor Caregivers

Implementation of A System That Brought Nurture Care Into Their Next Phase Of Business

Julie owns a home care agency along with a registry, giving her a deep understanding of operating costs and margins. She also sits on the board of the Private Care Association (PCA), getting a 360-degree view of the industry’s challenges beyond her office.

“There was some hesitation about making a switch when it came to the cost, but we wanted to give [Ally] a try,” Julie shared. Her team needed a solution that was built for registries instead of retrofitting a solution that wasn’t suited to their business model. The customer service team offered training and support during the transition process, making it as smooth as possible.

Results From Nurture Care’s Experience With Ally: Passing An Audit With Flying Colors

“We recently had an audit, a surprise audit, at that. It was very unnerving, but with not paying caregivers through Escrow and no money moving back and forth, our audit took less than two weeks,” Julie shared. One of her colleagues had a six-month-long audit.

When used correctly, the Ally platform can help registries increase their odds of passing a workers classification audit by over 50%. “The partitioned payment systems in place saved us a lot of time. It’s very efficient, and we don’t spend a lot of time in the system because it’s running correctly,” Julie added. 

We passed this audit with Ally because Ally paid the caregivers on behalf of clients, so it was difficult to deem us the employer."

Aside from the audit, “the efficiency of not having to collect from them has been a time saver and has allowed us to provide more customer service.”

If You Have A DOL Audit, Take Steps Today To Pass Like Julie Did

The best thing you can do is arm yourself with information about the process. Make sure you have the documents/receipts to avoid misclassification of your caregivers/clinicians.

Here are a few tips:

• If you utilize an accountant or company to manage tax preparation, they may have a connection to an expert who’s familiar with workers’ classification audits.
• Prompt your office team to audit materials and records. Make sure everything is in proper order. Your auditor should specify the time period they need records for, this typically means the last three years’ worth.
• Use the Ally platform to add a barrier between your business and caregivers. We’ll issue the checks in our name instead of yours, keeping you clean and ready in the event of an audit.

 READ MORE: 5 Rules to Follow to Help You Survive a Worker Classification Audit

Julie shares her experience with Ally by sharing the following with other registries:

"I highly recommend the Ally platform for one main reason: the Department of Labor. Secondarily, you never have to deal with payroll and invoicing. If you are doing you’re own invoicing, you could save probably 20% or more of your time."