A Lobbie Institute Customer Story
Customer: Jessica Triplett, Owner/Founder Hearts in Homes
Interviewed by: Kathy Douglas, RN, MPH-HA
Industry: Home Healthcare
Four Key Takeaways from Jessica’sStory
1. Complexity shouldn’t be accepted just because “that’s how it’s always been done.”
A 68-page intake process had become part of everyday operations. Jessica challenged the status quo and found a dramatically simpler way.
2. The right technology gives valuable time back to people.
Going paperless eliminated hours spent printing, scanning, organizing, uploading, and retrieving documents, freeing staff to focus on higher-value work.
3. Growth requires systems that can grow with you.
As Hearts in Homes has expanded to more than 50 employees and prepares for further growth, Jessica’s experience demonstrates the importance of putting simple, organized, scalable systems in place early.
4. Jessica’s story points to a much bigger opportunity.
Her experience shows what is possible when organizations challenge paper-based processes and embrace simpler, more efficient ways of working.
There Had to Be a Better Way
“I felt like I was killing off a forest.”
That was how Jessica described the amount of paper Hearts in Homes was generating every time it completed a new client intake. More than 68 pages had to be printed, completed, signed, organized, distributed, scanned, stored, shredded, and recycled. For a growing home care organization, the process was creating unnecessary complexity while consuming valuable staff time.
For Jessica simplifying things is particularly important. Hearts in Homes was born from her own experience trying to navigate services when her husband became ill. She remembers being overwhelmed by the complexity of finding resources, figuring out who to call, navigating phone systems, and being transferred from one place to another. “I wanted to be a solution to the problem,” she recalls, “a breath of fresh air to somebody.”
That experience shaped the kind of company she wanted to build. When Jessica sees unnecessary complexity, her instinct is to find a better way. So, when the intake process at Hearts in Homes grew into 68 pages of paperwork, she saw more than an administrative inconvenience. She saw another barrier standing between people and the help they needed.
Looking for Something Better
Finding a solution was not as easy as she expected. Jessica began searching for a way to take the intake process paperless and was surprised by how few solutions she found that could accommodate the realities of her organization. Then she discovered Lobbie.
After seeing a demonstration, she remembers thinking, “If this is everything it says it is, this is going to be perfect.” She was also skeptical. Could replacing such a cumbersome process really be this easy?
The answer, she discovered, was yes.
Jessica provided Lobbie with the organization’s existing intake forms, and the Lobbie team helped turn them into a digital workflow, including the necessary signature components. Instead of trying to redesign the organization’s processes around a new piece of technology, the technology was configured to support the work her team already needed to accomplish.
A Better Experience for Everyone
The impact extended well beyond eliminating paper. For staff, the difference has been equally significant.
Before Lobbie, her staff become frustrated by the sheer volume and the logistics of completing and processing of paperwork. Questions about signatures, screenshots, missing pages, and how documents needed to be handled were part of the process. Since implementing Lobbie, Jessica says those complaints have largely disappeared. The organization can also complete intakes virtually, creating greater flexibility in how and where the process takes place.
Instead of handling dozens of individual pages and files, the completed paperwork is stored digitally. Information is easier to retrieve later, eliminating the need to search through stacks of paper or manually locate scanned documents. Jessica’s staff especially appreciates being able to return to Lobbie and quickly access the information they need when reviewing a case.
The time savings have added up quickly. Jessica described the difference simply: “It frees up so much time.” Time previously spent scanning pages, separating files, naming folders, uploading documents, and managing paperwork can now be redirected toward other responsibilities and serving more people.
More Than Digital Intake
As Jessica and her team became more familiar with Lobbie, they also began finding uses beyond their original intake challenge. Forms can be created and sent digitally for other organizational needs, giving the team a centralized way to keep important information organized and documented. For Jessica, that has helped create something every growing healthcare organization needs: order.
She describes Lobbie as a place where information can remain “clean, documented, organized, HIPAA compliant,” while still giving the organization flexibility to create templates and workflows around its own needs.
The platform also stood up well during an important real-world test. Jessica shared that when Minnesota’s Department of Human Services conducted the organization’s revalidation, its use of the system did not raise issues requiring correction.
Easy Technology Still Requires Good Adoption
Jessica is also candid that technology alone does not guarantee a successful implementation. Her organization encountered some internal challenges when the people initially responsible for using the system had not fully learned its capabilities. When Jessica and her husband later spent time exploring Lobbie themselves, they realized the platform could do considerably more than they had initially understood.
That experience reinforced an important lesson for other owners: give people the time and support to learn a new system. Lobbie provided training, as well as access to refresher sessions, recordings, helpful links, and ongoing assistance if needed. Jessica ultimately found the system straightforward to learn, particularly through hands-on use. “It is easy to use,” she said. “You just have to do it.”
She also points to responsiveness as an important part of her experience. When questions or issues arise, she says the Lobbie team is available and responds quickly.
Turning Administrative Time Back Into Productive Time
Perhaps the most important outcome of Jessica’s story is not that her organization stopped printing 68-page intake packets. It is what happened to all the time and effort previously consumed by that process. Jessica says that using Lobbie has freed up 2 hours of administrative time per person. “That’s huge!”
When administrative work becomes simpler, staff have greater capacity for the work that actually moves an organization forward. For Jessica’s team, reducing the paper shuffle meant less scanning, uploading, organizing, searching, and following up and more time available for other priorities.
That matters particularly in home care, where leaders are balancing growth, regulatory requirements, workforce challenges, client needs, and tight operating margins. Jessica sees strong systems as an important part of building an organization where people can do their jobs well.
What began as a search for a paperless intake solution ultimately became something larger: a simpler and more efficient way of working. Jessica admits she initially considered keeping Lobbie a secret because it felt like a competitive advantage. Today, she sees it differently. She believes sharing what she has learned can help other business owners facing many of the same challenges.
And her assessment after using the platform is refreshingly straight forward: “It’s been fantastic. And it saves everybody time.”
That may be the best measure of successful healthcare technology: not how much technology it adds, but how much unnecessary work it takes away.
A Call to Action
Jessica’s story raises a much bigger question. Across the United States, tens of thousands of home care and hospice organizations serve millions of patients. Imagine the cumulative operational cost, staff time, and environmental impact when paper remains embedded in intake and documentation processes. Jessica’s experience demonstrates that this is no longer a problem without a solution. Better alternatives exist and sharing stories like hers can help move an entire industry toward simpler, more efficient, and more sustainable ways of working.
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