Advancing Community Care: Operational Excellence at Racker with FME

Empowering care with data

Racker, a human services agency with 800 employees, has been providing support to individuals with disabilities in Tompkins, Cortland, and Tioga counties in New York since 1948. Serving thousands of community members, Racker’s mission is to help individuals of all ages thrive. Licensed under five state departments, Racker operates under rigorous regulatory requirements. Since adopting FME in 2019, the agency has achieved significant operational advancements.

Enhancing efficiency and automating for impact

One of the first challenges Racker addressed using FME was a four-month backlog in processing therapy data and reimbursement for over 6,000 monthly therapy sessions. By automating data extraction and validation across three electronic health record systems, FME reduced processing time to just one hour, ensuring compliance with billing requirements and providing leadership with daily reports for monitoring key performance indicators. Before utilizing FME, billing processes included printing session details on paper, mailing them to each county office, and manually entered by county clerks in their billing systems. Racker uses FME to validate data requirements and format upload files, which has eliminated data entry mistakes and saved resources between printing, mailing, and double data entry in multiple systems.

FME’s automation capabilities extend beyond billing. The agency’s largest program, comprising 250 employees supporting individuals in the community, previously faced challenges in payroll accuracy. Staff input around 1,000 weekly time-punches into a mobile app, each tied to varying pay rates and budgets. FME validates payroll data against budgets, eliminates discrepancies, and ensures staff are paid accurately. This automation also complies with the Earned Wage Access Consumer Protection Act, enabling employees to access on-demand pay for completed work.

Driving compliance and security

Racker has also used FME to  revolutionize identity management. Previously, account and credential management relied on ticket-based notifications, which posed risks of delays in updating accounts for new hires or terminated employees and inconsistencies in assigning appropriate access levels. These manual processes increased the chance of unauthorized access or operational inefficiencies. Today, FME automates the identity lifecycle, integrating recruiting and HR systems to create, secure, or reactivate accounts. These workflows, leveraging up to eight data sources and utilizing between 300-550 transformers, handle multi-factor authentication, role-based access, and training assignments seamlessly. This has not only strengthened compliance but also reduced manual administrative burdens.

Compliance requirements for therapist licensing, credentials, and health screenings are also streamlined with FME. Automated processes ensure up-to-date certifications and support trend analysis, while scheduled flows detect potential gaps. FME’s capabilities have further enabled Racker to transition from paper-based processes to app-based systems, ensuring greater accuracy and efficiency.

Transforming operations with cost savings

FME’s versatility has allowed Racker to achieve complex multi-source data analysis that was previously time-consuming or unachievable. Racker maintains administrative costs at just 12% of the annual budget—3% lower than industry averages. By automating workflows, FME allows intangible savings for data processing and system integrations. Processes that once took hours now take minutes, enabling the agency to redeploy resources toward direct community support.

Joe Homza, Manager of Information Systems, emphasizes the impact of FME: “The people within our agency are doing important work, and it’s best that they focus on that rather than struggling with technology.” FME has empowered staff to focus on care, rather than  compliance hurdles or administrative inefficiencies. Looking ahead, Racker plans to expand their FME use for anomaly detection and other proactive measures, ensuring data security and operational excellence as they continue to evolve to meet community needs.