Closing the Fiscal Year Strong: Using Data to Shore Up Collections, Fuel Growth, and Fix Disparate Systems

As the calendar year winds down, I/DD providers aren’t just “closing the books”—they’re juggling open shifts, budget pressure, and system quirks all at once. The year may be ending, but the to-do list isn’t, and it can feel like every decision has to stretch limited staff, funding, and time just a little bit further.

Recent data from ANCOR shows just how tight things are: most providers report moderate or severe staffing challenges, many are turning away new referrals because they can’t safely staff services, and turnover and vacancy rates remain stubbornly high. Every dollar, every hour of staff time, and every data point has to work harder than ever.

Year-end is an ideal time for leadership to step back and ask three questions:

1. How can we improve collections and protect our revenue base?
2. How will we support future growth, including new service lines?
3. How can we save time and improve data quality when our information lives in disparate systems?

Below are practical, non-technical strategies to move the needle in each area.

Strengthening Collections in a High-Risk Environment

When margins are thin and staffing is unstable, small breakdowns in billing and collections can quietly become existential risks.

Map the “Last Mile” of Revenue

Most providers have clear claims policies and billing systems, yet still see write-offs, denials, or under-billing. The breakdown often happens in the “last mile”: the step where front-line documentation and schedules are translated into what actually gets billed.

At year-end, review:

• Service capture vs. authorizations: Are units left unbilled because documentation is late, incomplete, or missing required elements? Are you tracking under-utilization of authorizations by program and person, not just denials?
• Denial patterns: Look at denial codes over the last 6–12 months. Where are they clustering by payer, program, or service type?
• Eligibility workflows: In a system where people can wait years for services, avoidable eligibility lapses are simply too costly.

Even using basic reports and spreadsheets, this focused review often reveals a handful of process fixes that recover meaningful revenue in the coming year.

Align Around a Few Shared Metrics

Align around a few shared metrics by making sure clinical, finance, and operations leaders are all looking at the same small scorecard—things like clean claims rate, average days in accounts receivable by payer, percentage of authorized units delivered, and denials by category (documentation, eligibility, authorization, etc.).

With workforce instability making timely documentation and quality standards harder to maintain, year-end is a good time to choose this concise set of indicators, assign clear owners, and commit to reviewing them together each month.

Planning for Growth and New Service Lines—Even in a Crisis

Given today’s pressures for I/DD providers, growth can sound like a luxury. Yet ANCOR’s findings on referrals and waiting lists show the cost of not growing: people and families often have nowhere else to go when services aren’t available.

The question is not whether to grow, but how to do so responsibly.

Use Data to Define “Responsible Growth”

Instead of starting with “What should we add?”, begin with:

• Where are we already strong?
  Look at program-level performance: staff stability, quality outcomes, and financials. Stabilizing and modestly expanding strong programs is often safer than launching something entirely new.
• Where does community need intersect with our strengths?
  Combine internal data (referrals, waitlists, service gaps) with what you know about state policy and funding direction. Aim for service lines that address urgent needs and fit your capabilities.
• What is our workforce capacity?
  With turnover and vacancies still high, growth plans must be grounded in realistic recruitment and retention assumptions.

Treat New Service Lines Like Investments

Treat new service lines like investments by asking, for each one: how long until staffing, volume, and reimbursement make it sustainable without ongoing subsidy; whether reimbursement structures and program rules are stable enough to rely on; and whether current workflows, documentation, and technology can realistically support the model.

Capturing these points in a simple “investment memo” for each proposal gives boards and leadership a consistent way to compare options and avoid mission drift.

Saving Time & Improving Data Quality Across Disparate Systems

For many providers, data is scattered: one system for billing, another for scheduling, another for incidents, another for HR, plus spreadsheets everywhere. In a workforce crisis, that fragmentation isn’t just annoying…it directly affects quality and financial stability.

Start with Time: Where are People Losing the Most?

Before talking about technology, quantify where staff time is going:

• How much time per week does a typical DSP spend on documentation outside their scheduled shift?
• How often do supervisors re-enter the same information in multiple systems?
• Which reports require manual workarounds every month?

Even a light time-study with a small group can uncover quick wins, such as:

• Removing duplicative fields
• Aligning templates with payer requirements to reduce rework
• Standardizing how people, locations, and programs are referenced across forms

Design a “Minimum Viable” Data Model

You don’t have to solve integration all at once. Start by defining a simple, organization-wide data model:

• What are our core entities? (People supported, staff, programs, locations, payers, service types)
• What identifiers do we use for each, and are they consistent across systems?
• What are the minimum data elements we need to link clinical, workforce, and financial information?

With that foundation, prioritize small steps with big payoff:

• Align staff and person IDs across scheduling, payroll, and billing
• Standardize tags for programs and service lines
• Maintain a single “source of truth” list for payers and funding streams

These changes make it far easier to answer board-level questions like, “Which programs are hardest hit by vacancies?” or “Which service lines contribute most to the margin we reinvest?”

Importantly, simplifying documentation and system workflows is also a workforce strategy.

When staff can complete documentation on shifts, systems feel intuitive, and data is actually used to improve support, job quality improves—and so does retention!

Looking Ahead: Turning Year-End Reflection into Action

ANCOR’s recent work describes a system under serious strain, but it also highlights providers that are adapting—using data not as a reporting burden, but as a practical tool for survival and mission.

As you close out the fiscal year, consider three concrete commitments:

1. Choose one collections initiative
   Reduce denials in a specific category or increase utilization of authorized units in a priority program.
2. Name one growth priority
   Define what “responsible” looks like, grounded in community need, workforce reality, and organizational strengths.
3. Launch one effort to simplify or connect systems
   Even if it’s as modest as standardizing IDs or eliminating duplicate documentation in one key process.

None of this requires perfect systems or large capital investments. It requires clarity and discipline—and a focus on using data in service of people with I/DD and the DSPs who support them.

Year-end may be busy, but it’s also a chance to zoom out. By strengthening collections, planning for thoughtful growth, and improving how data flows through your organization, providers can enter the new fiscal year not just bracing for the next crisis, but actively shaping a more resilient future.

How Statewise Can Help

Statewise works with I/DD providers to turn the data they already have into clearer, more usable information—without forcing a rip-and-replace of existing systems.

• Strengthen collections: Bring authorization, service, and billing data into a common view so it’s easier to see where units are underused, where denials cluster, and which fixes will have the biggest revenue impact.
• Support responsible growth: Combine financial, staffing, and program data to evaluate potential new service lines against real-world constraints like workforce capacity and margin.
• Tame disparate systems: Align key identifiers (people, staff, programs, payers) across systems so leadership can trust reports and answer core questions quickly, instead of rebuilding spreadsheets each month.

In short, Statewise helps providers move from fragmented data and gut feel to shared, data-informed decisions about collections, growth, and operations—so they can focus more energy on people, not systems.

Meghan McParland is the Director of Marketing at Statewise.