Tools for Independent Support Workers
As an independent support worker, knowing where to begin, and finding the right tools to manage your day-to-day tasks can sometimes feel overwhelming. Thankfully, there are different kinds of tools out there that can help make things easier, from keeping track of your clients and appointments to handling paperwork.
Some tools are simple and user-friendly, while others are more advanced and suited to larger organisations. Whether you’re looking for something straightforward or more detailed, there’s likely a solution that fits your needs.
Let’s take a look at the types of tools that you can use as an independent worker;
Clinical Management Systems
Cinical Management Systems are online-tools that focus on clinical and healthcare operations, often used by large teams to manage appointments, patient records, and billing. Requires substantial training and setup but offers deep functionality for those who need advanced features.
Care Coordination Platforms
Care Coordination Platforms are online software platforms that are designed for organisations that handle extensive care coordination, reporting, and analytics. Ideal for large disability or healthcare organisations that need complex solutions with rostering and payroll integrations – which may be overkill for independent workers.
General Business Tools
These are non-industry-specific solutions (such as general CRM or project management tools) that handle tasks like invoicing, scheduling, and basic customer tracking. They provide flexibility but don’t offer sector-specific features for NDIS or care providers, and generally require a lot of set-up to get started.
Marketplace Platforms
Marketplace platforms are online tools that help workers and clients connect, and match each other. These transactional platforms connect clients with independent workers and help manage payments and scheduling. Each platform charges a percentage for each transaction, which offers simplicity but can limit worker autonomy by setting rates or policies.
No Systems (Hardcopy)
The traditional approach of manual record-keeping and paper-based management. While completely customizable and free (except for paper/printing costs), it is highly inefficient, prone to errors, and offers no support for compliance or scaling. Often people using these systems underestimate the amount of time they spend in taking notes and sending invoices.
Blueset
Blueset is the only resource centre for Independent Support Workers. It’s an all-in-one hub for managing schedules, invoicing, compliance, and administration is specifically built for Independent Support Workers. With an extensive range of template policies, procedures, and tools, Blueset equips you with everything needed to get started as an Independent Support Worker.
Cost and Feature Comparison
Clinical Management Systems
- Scheduling
- Invoicing
- Secure Note Storage
- Client Profiles
- NDIS Price Finder
- Community Support
- Created by NDIS Providers
- Template Policies
- Template Procedures
- Template Documents
- Financial Tracking
How much does it cost?
Most clinical management systems use a 'percentage' based fee. So you're charged more for having more clients, or earning more income. You'll also need to add on the cost of your financial management system too!
Care Coordination Platforms
- Scheduling
- Invoicing
- Secure Note Storage
- Client Profiles
- NDIS Price Finder
- Community Support
- Created by NDIS Providers
- Template Policies
- Template Procedures
- Template Documents
- Financial Tracking
How much does it cost?
Most care coordination platforms require you to sign-up as a team, so you're paying for more users than you need! These generally start at $50/month. Plus the cost of your invoicing system!
General Business Tools
- Invoicing
- Financial Tracking
- Scheduling
- Secure Note Storage
- Client Profiles
- NDIS Price Finder
- Community Support
- Created by NDIS Providers
- Template Policies
- Template Procedures
- Template Documents
How much does it cost?
General business tools are usually charged monthly, and start at about $55/month. Usually, you'll be required to pair a general business tool with other apps, or platforms to get the best use out of it.
Markplace Platforms
- Scheduling
- Invoicing
- Secure Note Storage
- Client Profiles
- NDIS Price Finder
- Community Support
- Created by NDIS Providers
- Template Policies
- Template Procedures
- Template Documents
- Financial Tracking
How much does it cost?
Most marketplace style platforms charge 10% of your fee. So if you're working 30 hours a week, and your rate is $55/hr, you could be paying up to $165 a week - that's $660 a month!
No Systems (Hardcopy)
- Scheduling
- Invoicing
- Client Profiles
- Secure Note Storage
- NDIS Price Finder
- Community Support
- Created by NDIS Providers
- Template Policies
- Template Procedures
- Template Documents
- Financial Tracking
How much does it cost?
Free!
But maybe more than you think! For every hour you spend doing administration, that's an hour you could be seeing a client and earning more money.
Blueset
- Scheduling
- Automatic Invoicing
- Client Profiles
- Secure Note Storage
- NDIS Price Finder
- Community Support
- Created by NDIS Providers
- Template Policies
- Template Procedures
- Template Documents
- Financial Tracking
- Incident Reporting
- Sole-Trader Support
How much does it cost?
$55 per month
No further fees for emails, invoicing, or percentages of your revenue charged.