New system to track Illinois caregivers' hours

SPRINGFIELD - The work of caregivers in the Illinois Home Services Program will be monitored by a new electronic timekeeping system.

Illinois Department of Human Services Secretary Michelle Saddler announced the system Thursday. It's meant to prevent fraud in the program for people with disabilities who need care in their homes.

The system requires providers to call in when they arrive in a home to start work and call out when their work is done. They call in using the customer's registered land line or mobile phone.

Saddler calls it "the most stringent timekeeping system in the program's history."

Sandata Technologies has a $5 million contract to implement the system for nearly 30,000 providers working in the state program.

Enhanced timekeeping was required by Medicaid reforms enacted in 2012.