Shift Differentials can be difficult and timely to calculate but with BlueSky’s new, and enhanced rates, this process is easy and automatic.

BlueSky worked with the Community’s input to create the easiest way to manage shift differentials while including great features like lunchtime entries for  facilities requesting exact calculations.

So, free yourself from calculating the minutes by letting BlueSky take care of your Payroll and Invoicing needs.  To learn more about shift differentials or BlueSky’s Payroll and Invoicing process please be sure to contact your Community Trainer today!

Managing your back office just got easier with the new and improved Quickbooks – BlueSky integration.  There is no need to enter time sheets and invoices twice to get your detailed Payroll/Receivables loaded into Quickbooks.

How did we do it?

The BlueSky Development Team worked with a Quickbooks expert to develop an easy integration. After a few quick steps and instruction, your business will be up and running.  This integration includes items such as detailed invoices, detailed timesheets, and also loads new information directly from BlueSky to Quickbooks

Is it expensive?

No! Our Quickbooks integration is not only easy to use but it is affordable.  Other software packages will charge thousands of dollars to use their Quickbooks Integration.  We charge only a few dollars a month and a low setup fee.

 Want a fresh start for 2010?

To get signed up with the QuickBooks – BlueSky integration contact the BlueSky ZenDesk and you will be on the fast track to an easier back office system!

We are excited to announce that the following updates are effective immediately!  We appreciate all of our clients who provide us feedback  as you are the driving force behind the enhancements in the NurseTesting system.

Results Page

As promised, the incorrectly answered questions are now back on the results page!

• All newly validated exams will showcase the questions missed as well as the answer that was selected.
• All former NurseTesting exams will display the questions missed and the list of answers to choose from – the incorrect choice selected in bold.

- – - Make note of the difference! The only answer shown for new exams will be
the incorrect answer chosen. This should assist your organization,
as well as your caregivers, with remediation when necessary.- – -

Revision of General ICU Exam

Number of questions decreased from 70 to 62.

After obtaining a sufficient sample size, we were able to statistically identify test items that were not contributing to the overall reliability of the exam, and thus this newer version will be more streamlined and still provide good reliability in identifying those that have sufficient Critical Care job knowledge.

New Exams in the NurseTesting Exam Library

You can now find the following exams on the Send Exams screen.

• Endoscopy/GI
• Neuro ICU
• Neuro PCU

These exams are ready for sending effective immediately!

Thank you for checking in on NurseTesting’s Important News – and please let us know if you have any questions regarding these announcements!

New Interface to Easily Override Overtime

Billing for overtime can be tricky, especially if the facility’s bill week and your agency’s pay week are different.  BlueSky has added a new convenient override for Billing Overtime in the time sheet interface and it works with Daily and Weekly overtime.

Overriding overtime is a one-click, two-step process. 

How does it work? 

Currently the Weekly and Daily Overtime Columns automatically calculate the billing overtime based on facility rules. This total can now be opened by a hyperlink.

To override overtime, click on this hyperlink and a dialog box appears.  Change the overtime to the appropriate amount and hit "Ok." 

Once you have overwritten the automatic calculation, the total hours will be bold and a dialog box appears when you save, signaling the change.  It is as easy as that.

Remember, overriding overtime cannot be done by just anyone in your BlueSky system.  This permission-based feature can be customized to meet your organization’s needs!  If you have questions on opening up your permissions please contact the help desk and they will be happy to assist you.  Good luck and happy billing!

Statistical information is key to many Joint Commission Reviews and Reports and BlueSky included the highly anticipated DNR Report in the Version 2.4 release.

Included in this upgrade are changes made to the DNR/WNG interface, which now allows you to choose a Clinical or Professional type as well as give the reason, date, and a brief 100 character description.

The report can be pulled by date range, caregiver, facility, etc. to name a few.  This descriptive reporting can help your agency identify potential problems in order to resolve them quickly.

To learn more about DNR Reporting and additional ways to track caregiver Information, join this week’s Community Trainings on Thursday, 1:30pm CDT.  For more information contact the BlueSky Community.

With all the news surrounding BlueSky’s third-party integrations, we thought we’d provide a some background on our spirit of cooperation.

The most recent BlueSky integration is a Paychex API.  Paychex , since 1971, administers Payroll, Payroll Tax Services, Human Resources, 401k and Benefits Administration for small and medium businesses.  From calculating payroll and filing tax payments, to administering retirement plans and workers’ compensation, Paychex gives its clients relief from administrative hassles so they can focus on their bottom line.
 
With this new integration, Paychex customers can submit their Payroll information from BlueSky directly to Paychex. Simple and easy.

It’s fantastic to see the BlueSky community continue to grow and integrate with other customer focused companies such as Paychex. We love being part of this type of collaboration that focuses on our customers’ need to simplify the workflow process.

Do you have an Apple Computer, or is your favorite browser Firefox?  BlueSky is happy to announce the launch of Version 2.4 officially making BlueSky Multi-Browser/Multi-Operating System Compatible.
 

What does this upgrade mean for you? 

·      Caregiver’s can apply to BlueSky no matter what Operating System and Browser they are using. 
·      Offices that are 100% Apple no longer need BootCamp or VMWare Fusion to use BlueSky effectively.
·      Firefox users no longer have to be dependant on Internet Explorer!

We sincerely hope you are as excited about Version 2.4 as we are.  Over the next few weeks we will be Spotlighting several of our other new 2.4 features including our Paychex Integration, Invoicing Changes and the new ability to Overwrite Bill To Overtime.  Stay tuned for more!

Have you ever wondered how BlueSky can facilitate the application process for your caregivers?  Well, we have a recommendation for you to consider.

Linking BlueSky to your organization’s website creates an easy and convenient way for your caregivers to apply to your system.  But, BlueSky can take this one step further!

We have custom URLs available allowing the caregiver to link directly to the correct office or region when applying to BlueSky.  So, if you are interested in eliminating the caregiver’s step of choosing their qualifying region, or simply wish to do away with this step entirely, custom URLs are the way to go!

If you are interested in utilizing the custom URLs - automatically linking your website to the correct Region within BlueSky – please put in a ticket at BlueSky’s ZenDesk. We look forward to getting you one step closer to maximizing the use of your BlueSky system!

Today’s generation is text message savvy – one of the fastest growing forms of communication. Many times it is more convenient to read and answer a text message than listen to a voicemail or answer the telephone. For this reason, BlueSky integrated a text messaging feature – keeping you in touch with your caregivers more efficiently.

Text messaging is used for shift notification. When a Caregiver has been scheduled for a shift they can receive notification in numerous forms:

• system generated email
• phone call
• text messaging
• or manual phone call.

Here is an example of what the text message can say. Remember that you can edit these texts before they are sent.

Use text messaging to your advantage! Our BlueSky Text Messaging users find better response ratings from their caregivers than when they used the old-fashioned phone call tactic!

Currently using BlueSky’s text message feature? Let us know what you think!

BlueSky has so many time saving techniques, but one of the best is the
Facility Portal. Facilities have the ability to access their facility specific portal page to update shift needs, complete caregiver evaluations, update contact information, and much more!

Remember, the Facility Permission level must be reviewed to set the appropriate levels and a user name and password should be provided. BlueSky prompts the user to change their password up the first login session. Once they are set up correctly the possibilities are endless.

Adding Needs to the System

• Per-Diem
• Travel Needs
• Contracts
• Permenant Placement

Running Facility Specific Reports

• Cost Reports
• Hours Used
• Scheduling Reports
• Contact Lists
• …just to name a few!

BlueSky allows you to spend more time building relationships with your clients and less time entering monotonous information. Facilities love this feature as well – so when you are talking to a prospective facility, make sure you include BlueSky as one of your selling points!