About VIP America

Meet Ashley Skipper, VIP America’s VP of Operations.

Ashley’s grandfather and aunt wanted to pursue a business opportunity that gave them the ability to care for and give back to their community. VIP began as a companion homemaker agency in 1997 in Stuart, FL.

Realizing a growing need for comprehensive care, VIP America evolved to add skilled nursing and personal care to its core service offerings, becoming a nurse registry.

Ashley saw the potential in VIP America, not only for her family’s sake but for many others who lived in her community and surrounding neighborhoods, eventually rising to VP of Operations. Speaking of the family business, Ashley works alongside her mother, Jill Ball, President Emeritus who remains on the team in a consulting role.

In 2008, Ashley’s grandfather diagnosed with Parkinson’s, became a client of the company he started. They saw first-hand as a family, the benefit of the nurse registry model, with a holistic and comprehensive approach to healthcare, with hands-on collaboration with clients.

They’ve since diversified their payer source mix, including a heavy Medicaid presence, caring for an increasingly diverse group of seniors. In 2009, they acquired a registry, continually growing and nurturing their Floridian roots. They now cover 16 counties in south and central Florida. This growth led them to be sold to Greater NY Nursing Services at the beginning of this year, entering a “new season” and a “new journey” because of its strong reputation and family atmosphere.

Challenges And Need For Change

Technology growing pains

In 2018, Ashley and her team were deciding if their current software was still a good fit. It was a software developed for certified agencies. They saw the older form graduate with each update. Knowing the EVV mandate was coming down the line from a compliance perspective, there was a need for something new.

Not only that, Ashley and her team wanted to remain as compliant as possible. This meant retrofitting their existing system: using workarounds, additional workflows, and other tasks that required a lot of time and internal resources.

Additionally, one of their primary “gripes” about their existing software, was that it had “poor API functionalities” making data transmission and task automation difficult and time-consuming.

Needing a new process for caregiver on-boarding

The search for a new caregiver registry software also started because they wanted to find the easiest way to onboard the caregivers they refer. There was a cumbersome data entry process with adding new caregivers to their referral roster. 

They spoke to developers who could build something that funneled into their system. However, they realized the platform was not equipped to handle their business’s needs.

Implementation of A System That Could Bring VIP America Into A State Of Compliance

An industry colleague referred Jill to Ally after operating their own caregiver registry. They connected with an Ally sales team member who safely and gently guided them through the process. Ally also connected with a current customer talking about automations, intrigued by the possibilities that the platform offered.

What caught Ashley’s eye from her operations vantage point, was “the independent contractor compliance and ancillary layer with the DOL,” as “scarier things that were starting to rumble in 2018, and 2019.”

Having built software that is designed for caregiver registries, information sharing is done in a way that helps registries meet requirements and standards. Ashley shared that “data storage and presentation in Ally has been key to our success. It makes data more palatable from a compliance perspective.”

“I can’t force compliance with a plan of care that can be done in other systems. This also prevents the employees from being able to take certain actions - which gives me a lot of peace of mind.”

Instead, with Ally they are able to leverage detailed client care needs section that allow teams to “communicate on behalf of the client” important information, while meeting compliance standards. This distance from an information transmission perspective helps to prevent oversight issues.

Rather than approving time sheets or paying caregivers directly, Ashley and her team are able to lean on Ally as a compliance barrier, separating VIP America from its contractors.

"One of the biggest strengths of Ally is that they listen to us. They give us an audience and listen to our hardships and address what they can." 

At the end of the day, I know that if I had to show the DOL how rates are negotiated, I can get that done in a compliant way with Ally.” 

Results From VIP America’s Experience With Ally

Transforming digital operations

With their region’s Lead Agency contracts, they haven’t been able to transfer fully to digital operations. They’ve had to delicately balance paper with technology. 

All in all, Ally’s core function in their business has been becoming compliant. Paired with streamlining operations in the platform, it’s made staying compliant a breeze.

Cementing a data-driven culture of compliance

With caregiver shift history and tasks completed being tied to a client, it helps to keep the curtain of separation between VIP America and the caregivers they contract with. It speaks well to them being a contractor (as opposed to an employee) in the eyes of the DOL.

In the event of an audit, “Ally will defend our model of care.”

Shoring up the caregiver shortage through automation

VIP America fights hard for every single caregiver they can refer, as they find themselves in the middle of a caregiver shortage. In a time when the caregiver turnover rate has peaked at 77%, time is of the essence. Since automating the application process, VIP America has been able to capture and retain caregivers they refer.

Overall, Ally has made them more compliant with their onboarding and data storage practices for the caregivers they refer.

From one registry to another

Ashley Skipper sums up her experience with Ally by sharing the following with other registries:

"If you're a registry, tired of operating in an agency software that's not built for you and has aspects that can cause you to unintentionally violate labor law, I suggest using Ally. 

Instead of working for a software and fitting it to your needs, use a caregiver registry software that works for you. We couldn’t have said it better ourselves: “Home care agencies don’t use hospice software. Registries should use registry software if they can.”

Why reinvent the wheel when Ally has already taken care of it?

Solve your home care registry’s compliance pains with a platform that cares.

Ally is a registry management software with scheduling, caregiver onboarding, client management, and payment disbursement services. We act as the third-party payments provider, paying the caregiver directly, and keeping your registry clean as a registry. Compliance is at the heart of what we do - while helping you supercharge your growth.

Contact us today to schedule your demo.