Karis Care Services is a Virginia-based home care agency that’s been in business for 24 years, serving clients across multiple locations. It’s dedicated to providing compassionate and comprehensive care tailored to meet the needs of seniors and their families, while creating meaningful employment opportunities for more than 150 caregivers.

Broken processes and delays hindered productivity. Getting it right changed everything.

With over two decades of experience, Karis was no stranger to the operational and regulatory complexities that often challenge organizations in the home care sector. Like many others in the industry, they faced persistent issues—fragmented systems, unengaged caregivers—that created inefficiencies and limited scalability. Turning to CareAcademy helped the reputable agency to modernize and transform their training infrastructure, with an added bonus of optimizing outcomes.

"CareAcademy has an incredibly simple interface that is so much easier than what we used before.”

– Betsy Head, Co-founder of Karis Care Services

New Technology’s Positive Effects on Karis Care Services’ KPIs

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Decreased onboarding timeline by 37.5%

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155 actively enrolled caregivers

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155 actively enCaregivers complete an average of 180
classes per monthrolled caregivers

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Caregivers are completing classes on an
average within 2 days of starting the class

Kim Spinner, Karis’s HR Manager, added: “CareAcademy has definitely shortened our typical orientation day. Previously, we were completing modules in class which would last until 4:30 pm or 5 pm, making for a really long day. The addition of CareAcademy has enhanced our overall onboarding experience as we are now able to offer additional training with our initial training curriculum.”

Caregiver feedback about the adoption of the new training technology has also been incredibly positive. “They love being able to access training on their phones,” added Betsy. They’ve also given two thumbs up on the variety of training that’s available to them and how they can get a ‘quick fix’ to brush up on certain skills when they’re out in the field.

Problem solved

Building staff-employer synergy while improving care

In Virginia, where Karis is based, home care agencies can train caregivers to provide personal care attendant (PCA) services. CareAcademy enables Karis Care Services to hire, train, and retain caregivers by investing in their skills.

Chris added, “We can train caregivers in what they need to do and can even tailor that down to the individual needs of a specific client.” If they have a caregiver who isn’t trained or certified and wants to work, CareAcademy can open the doors for caregivers to work with clients long-term, reinforcing continuity of care.

“With how easy it is to implement and roll out, CareAcademy speeds up the hiring process to get caregivers out in the field,” he continued. The platform supplements and reinforces the blended training model that Karis’ caregivers need, like essential skills, dementia care, and continuing education, ready to go when they’re needed.

“Our nursing staff appreciate the depth of the course library but also appreciate the quality of the videos and training,” added Spinner.

“The information that was provided as far as logging on and everything made it very simple for caregivers to follow and get logged on. They like the content, videos, and appreciate the opportunity to get printed certificates,” added Spinner.

By maintaining positive, synergistic relationships between caregivers and office staff, caregivers stay highly engaged with their training. Better-trained caregivers tend to be more satisfied employees. In turn, they provide better care to clients.

Streamlining administrative and compliance workflows with training

“I can easily assign learnings to a caregiver for advanced training or task-specific training. The caregivers have given a lot of positive feedback on accessing this much more user-friendly solution,” added one of their nurses.

“We have some mandatory training modules that we use when we onboard and continuing training requirements from the state for all caregivers that provide personal care — that’s 98% of our staff,” added Betsy.

“With how easy it is to implement and roll-out, CareAcademy speeds up the hiring process to get caregivers out in the field.” 

– Chris Head, Co-Founder and Owner of Karis Care Service

Using CareAcademy’s dashboards and reporting capabilities, “we can assign courses and track progress through completion. When the state comes in for a visit, we can show that we’re in compliance with all of that,” she continued.

The agency also uses the reporting features to track caregiver engagement as part of its incentive and retention programs. The training data supplied from the dashboard supports key outcomes for Karis: quality caregivers for their clients and workforce stability.

A tech-forward and caregiver training solution that met Karis Care Services’ needs

The Karis team didn’t want to just find the right training, but an easy-to-use platform that allowed them to upload their own content. This made switching to CareAcademy an easy choice. “CareAcademy had everything we needed. It was seamless on our end,” Betsy added.

According to Spinner, the implementation experience with CareAcademy was very thorough, and her team came away with a solid understanding of what they needed to do to manage the platform successfully.

Interoperability of multiple technology tools is also critical for orderly day-to-day operations for an agency of this size and with multiple locations. Leveraging the integration between their existing back-office management system and CareAcademy, Karis Care Services is able to assign caregivers their training directly within the platform they already use. This saves time and removes friction from the caregiver’s plate while meeting them where they are (including content in multiple languages).

Betsy added, “Customer support has been quick, responsive, and they’ve been there every time we needed them.” The platform’s support isn’t just designed for administrators, it’s also available directly to caregivers with questions or concerns.

Standardizing training for elevated efficiency and outcomes

"All of the caregivers that did the fall refresher training were involved with a client at high risk for falls, and it’s made a huge difference in that client’s care and her sense of independence and safety."

– Betsy Head, Co-founder of Karis Care Services

Training isn’t a one-and-done endeavor for caregivers; it’s a tool that needs to be used consistently to maintain the quality care standards delivered by your agency.

Karis recently completed a fall prevention refresher for their caregivers working with a client who was at high risk for falls. “It’s made a huge difference in that client’s care. Not only that, but her sense of independence and safety improved,” Betsy shared.

As Karis’ leadership evaluates the agency’s performance and shapes its strategy for the future, Chris commented, “We’re excited about all of the things that we’re being able to do now, and obviously CareAcademy is a big part of that.”

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