In any given week, your staff — already struggling with vacancies — will experience many of the same challenges in your CMS: time spent on redundant and repetitive work, keeping up with large caseloads, staying on top of all the documentation needed to move cases forward, and the list goes on. These issues are all rooted in not being able to fully utilize the benefits of your CMS. 

Sara Client Communication Software snaps on seamlessly to your CMS to supercharge its capabilities. It isn’t like introducing another tech platform to your stack; it’s all about optimizing your current workflow and client communication in one place. 

Here’s a look inside your CMS – current workflows and pain points case managers are experiencing and how integrating your CMS with Sara can help to lighten the load. 

Case note production in your CMS: From manual entry to fully automated

Having well-documented case notes in your CMS is incredibly important for compliance but also incredibly time-consuming for caseworkers. 

Case notes without Sara

Caseworkers end up doing the administrative work twice: composing and pasting emails into your CMS to capture the case note record. This redundant workflow can make your staff — regardless of their comfort with technology— more reluctant to engage with your CMS. 

Case notes with Sara

Sara saves staff hours of daily manual data entry. It takes the work you’ve already done and creates case notes automatically within your CMS: these include any responses from clients you receive via email or SMS message (text), new documents received, or completed appointments.  All case information is tied to the system of record, ensuring that anyone working the case has the data they need to collaborate effectively. 

Sara helped caseworkers create over 14 million case notes in 2023

Addressing vacant caseloads: From patchwork to coordinated within your CMS 

Staff vacancies can lead to vacant caseloads, and this is how people fall through the cracks. With the right digital connectivity, staff can triage and effectively share the caseload to ensure that everyone who needs service receives it. 

Caseload sharing without Sara

Staff review patchwork communications within your CMS to piece together the narrative of each vacant case across their caseload. Those clients will need to wait until a caseworker becomes available and has reviewed their case to receive a response. 

Caseload sharing with Sara

Sara can be configured to send and receive communication (emails, text/SMS, appointments, and form/signature requests) with and from clients who do not have a case manager assigned to them. All are seamlessly documented in your CMS. Sara can deliver updates and critical information so no one feels the impact of being part of a vacant caseload.

In 2023, Sara helped caseworkers send 9.6 million emails and SMS messages to clients. 

Document & signature requests: From added time and expense to automatic follow-ups and rapid response 

Getting one document or signature from a client can represent an outsized effort: Current industry standards of communication and methods of data collection are not set up to ensure efficient two-way client communication and increase engagement, especially with harder-to-reach clients. 

Obtaining docs without Sara

Caseworkers manage their own client communication and requests using multiple communication platforms that may or may not be set up to exchange information. All attempts to request documents will need to be documented separately within your CMS. This may make it harder for caseworkers to identify clients who’ve hit a barrier to submitting their docs.

Obtaining docs with Sara

Sara can help you hear from more clients and ease the burden of document collection in whatever way best suits your staff:

• It can be configured to collect and upload documents and e-signatures proactively, automatically documenting the collection within your CMS.
• It can assign the outreach work to multiple caseworkers and conduct the outreach on their behalf

Either way, Sara can handle all digital communication and follow-up in one place and alert caseworkers when a document has been received from the client so that the caseworker can review and approve it. 

Serving rural populations: “We have a few counselors that are dedicated to serving our rural populations. It’s a unique situation,” says Baker. “They’re flying in for about a week, trying to get informational referrals and applications. And if there are open cases in that area or village, they’re trying to connect with them as well. We do a lot with Sara helping us keep in touch when we’re not in the area.”— Susan Baker, Program Coordinator II, Alaska VR

Caseworker focus: From task-driven in CMS to progress-driven in Sara

Staff vacancies have forced a shift in focus for many caseworkers — away from actively engaging with clients to create successful outcomes and toward repetitive admin tasks needed for documentation and compliance. 

Caseworker focus without Sara

Caseworkers’ attention has shifted to fulfill agency needs from staff vacancies and to maintain compliance. For the frontline worker, that means an increased workload of entering and re-entering case note information into your CMS. With this shift from client engagement to administrative tasks, it’s easy for staff to feel overwhelmed by their daily practices and eventually, experience burnout.  

Caseworker focus with Sara

Sara not only automates compliance but can positively improve caseworkers’ workload by automating 60-80% of the administrative tasks they have on their plates. Equipped with Sara, staff are given back valuable time. Instead of focusing on repetitive data entry and documentation tasks, caseworkers can focus on the work they find most fulfilling while driving progress for and with their clients.  

Sara integration to increase CMS adoption and engagement

Built to integrate with your existing CMS or system of record, Sara takes on some of the heavy lifting from caseworkers’ days rather than adding documentation work to their plates. With standardized templates and code libraries, the connection and transition is minimal for your IT team and/or CMS provider. 

With Sara Client Communication Software, agencies boost CMS adoption amongst caseworkers, fill in caseload gaps as a result of staff shortages, automate compliance, and make it easier to keep up with growing caseload demands.

“At the end of the day, by using Sara we get better outcomes for our participants which is our goal.” – Eric Hennessy, Social Services Program Specialist, Nevada Department of Health & Human Services