BELLEVILLE – Caritas Family Solutions is excited to announce that it has been chosen by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to help develop a new online payment portal designed to improve payment processes for nonprofit agencies and providers across the state.
Leading this initiative is Abigail York, Billing Operations Manager at Caritas, who was chosen for her extensive experience with the foster care system and her success in creating an internal communication process within Caritas that bridges the gap between the foster care parents, case managers, and finance departments. The new online portal will allow providers like Caritas to electronically submit and receive payments, resolve invoice issues, and track billings in real time, reducing piles of paperwork and minimizing the chance for human error. It will also ensure foster parents, providers, and outside services are paid accurately and on time.
“In the nonprofit and human services world, timely payments can be of critical importance,” said York. “Billing and documentation submission and review are currently what slow the entire process down, so one of our goals with this new online portal is to create a means for information to be processed and moved digitally. While the portal itself may not directly touch the lives of children and families, we know it will make a meaningful difference by helping nonprofit agencies across the state focus on helping others, without the added stress of payment delays to the service providers and foster parents that are supporting the families we serve.”
The program is currently in its beginning stage, where York is collaborating with DCFS and a third-party programmer to develop the formulas and structure of the system to meet the needs of both DCFS and the private agencies throughout the state. Once complete, the system will be utilized by nonprofits across the state when they need to submit invoices and receive payments per the contracts in place.
“The goal is to create a format that makes the most sense for both providers and the state, so payments are reviewed and processed correctly and efficiently,” said York. “This new system will erase the questions and confusion of whether or not agencies have received payments or what the status is of their billings submitted to the state. This Provider Portal is going to give agencies a clear picture of their financial status with the state funding for the youth and families served, and we hope that all of the residential facilities, foster care agencies, and intact programs throughout Illinois can benefit from it.”
York is grateful for the opportunity to work alongside DCFS in developing this portal to meet the needs of the contracted agencies. With the suggested changes and edits, they expect the formulas to be finalized by the end of December. The next phase is to test and refine the electronic submission system, which will likely take up to a year to complete due to the complexity and multitude of agencies and programs DCFS supports within its contracts.
Founded in 1947, Caritas Family Solutions is a nonprofit social service agency whose mission is to strengthen the social and emotional well-being of individuals and families in order to create healthy relationships, loving homes, and strong communities. Services include adoption, foster care, counseling, residential treatment for children healing from abuse and/or neglect, independent living for adults with developmental disabilities (CILA), and assisted living. Caritas serves more than 6,500 individuals annually across Southern Illinois from offices located in Belleville, Carterville, Mount Vernon, Waterloo, Olney, Glen Carbon, Alton, and Effingham as well as satellite locations in Highland and Sparta. For additional information, visit www.caritasfamilysolutions.org.
Caritas Family Solutions Helping to Create New State-Wide Payment System in Partnership with DCFS
