Knowledge Hub.

Making Business Processes More Efficient: OCC’s Provider Portal at Norfolk.

A Council’s Perspective…

We spoke with Amanda Chinn, ContrOCC Lead at Norfolk County Council (NCC), to find out why the council decided to purchase the portal and what the impact has been, both for the council and for their social care providers.

Why Norfolk decided to buy the Adults’ Provider Portal

Providers can import or generate actuals, edit them and submit to ContrOCC directly through the portal. Prior to purchasing the portal, NCC had been receiving returns from providers via a spreadsheet. Moving the returns to the portal and integrating this with ContrOCC seemed a natural progression.

Implementing the portal and onboarding providers

Norfolk ran training events with providers to make sure that everyone was on board with the new way of working. Videos and guides were created to support ongoing learning.

Benefits of Using the Module

The portal is now bedded into business-as-usual processes at the council. Implementing the module has brought several benefits to joint working practices between the council and their providers.

Providers can:

See exactly what payments are due
Easily submit returns
Make one-off claims
Drill down the information to CPLI level

NCC users can:

See the information visible to providers within the portal, enabling them to easily assist providers with any queries
Utilise the two-way communication functionality to contact providers
Make use of the audit history when dealing with any payment queries
Benefit from improved data quality and reporting
Save admin time- due to invoices being produced electronically

Importantly, implementing the portal has led to greater efficiencies in business processes for both the council and providers. Time savings have been made in processing returns from providers.

There has also been a reduction in the number of invoices submitted and processed. Previously the council would receive an invoice from providers on a per client basis, whereas now a bulk invoice is sent for all clients. This has meant that resource for this area could be reduced and it has enabled providers to be paid in a more timely manner.

The fact that providers can edit and upload actuals in bulk has made the whole process more efficient for them too.

Next Steps

If you want to find out more, or see a demonstration of our Provider Portal, contact us through the website, or get in touch with your Account Manager.