The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) — signed into law in July 2025 — introduces a new approach to Medicaid eligibility. Maintaining Medicaid access now requires meeting new work or volunteer hour requirements. Organizations must accurately track these hours to ensure volunteers retain their healthcare coverage.
What the OBBB Medicaid Expansion Means for Volunteer-Driven Organizations
Under this new legislation, individuals enrolled in Medicaid must meet a community engagement requirement. The bill requires participants to complete at least 80 hours per month of approved activities — such as volunteering, education, or employment — to maintain their benefits. The update in work hours is a change from existing rules set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
For many individuals, volunteering will be the most accessible option for keeping their health insurance. Hospitals, clinics, nonprofits, and community organizations could see an uptick in volunteers looking to meet these requirements. While this is a positive development for community service, it also introduces a significant challenge — tracking and verifying volunteer hours accurately.
Why Accurate Volunteer Hour Tracking Matters More Than Ever
The OBBB Medicaid Expansion is expected to impact thousands of individuals, creating a surge in volunteer activity. Organizations must now manage increased demand for volunteer opportunities, maintain accurate and verifiable hour records, and provide rapid reporting to help volunteers stay compliant.
Failing to track hours effectively could cause volunteers to lose benefits. Individuals aged 19 to 64 must meet the 80-hour requirement and have access to documentation that proves they worked in approved roles. Accurate tracking protects both volunteers and organizations from confusion and lost records.
The Challenges Organizations Face With Volunteer Tracking
Without a clear system in place, tracking hours can become overwhelming. Traditional paper tracking processes are slow and cluttered — organizations must juggle spreadsheets, paper sign-ins, and manual calculations, all while keeping records accessible. Without streamlined record-keeping, volunteers risk losing their benefits.
With more volunteers expected after the OBBB passes, organizations may face challenges such as:
- Paper sheets: Traditional sign-in sheets are easy to lose or damage, and poor handwriting can make them hard to read. This makes accurate record-keeping difficult.
- Manual tracking: Updating and calculating hours with manual spreadsheets is time-consuming and can lead to entry errors.
- Verification issues: Volunteers need official proof of their hours for compliance. Finding paper documents takes longer and might not be sufficient proof. Organizations must provide accurate documents without delays.
- Limited oversight: Without centralized tracking, managers might struggle to monitor progress toward required volunteer hours or miss discrepancies.
- Increased administrative work: As more volunteers join, the manual workload for staff grows, even if there are no additional resources to support them.
How Volgistics Helps You Stay Prepared
When tracking requirements increase, organizations are often stuck with more complex processes and red tape. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Your organization can meet this new demand without adding administrative stress. Volgistics provides a clear, streamlined way to record volunteer hours and ensure compliance. Let us help you focus on serving your community.
Cloud-Based Volunteer Management System
Volgistics is a cloud-based volunteer management platform. Instead of storing all your data on-site, it’s convenient and accessible from any location. That means you never have to deal with limited on-site storage — just upgrade as you grow. No more spreadsheets, disconnected logs, or paper sign-in sheets—everything is stored in one real-time, central system.
Volunteers can sign in and check their schedules from any connected device. Organizations can view and update volunteer profiles, customize reports, and send out online applications. All volunteer hour tracking is accurate and contained in one reliable database.
Features That Support Your Needs
More volunteers looking to meet Medicaid requirements means more work for your team. Without a system that scales to your needs, it’s easy for administrative teams to become dragged down in paperwork. Volgistics provides tools to make onboarding and tracking these new volunteers easy:
- Simple sign-in: Volunteers can record their time through on-site kiosks, online portals, or mobile devices. Just a few clicks get them signed in and signed out.
- Automatic hour logging: Each sign-in action immediately updates the volunteer’s profile, removing the need for manual entry.
- Detailed reporting: Generate reports in seconds to verify hours for volunteers who must confirm their participation for Medicaid. Plus, reports are accurate and accessible for any potential audits.
- Convenient communication: Use rapid email and text messaging to send updates and important information to volunteers.
A Better Team Experience
Volgistics eliminates manual time tracking, resulting in faster, easier management with fewer errors. Volunteers can quickly check in, view their hours, and receive important updates. Organizations benefit from:
- Time savings: Eliminate staff spending time on entering manual data or resolving discrepancies.
- Error reduction: Automation removes the guesswork, reducing mistakes that lead to issues with volunteer hours.
- Improved records: Volunteers receive digital confirmation of their hours, making it easier to submit proof to Medicaid.
How to Track, Approve, and Verify Volunteer Hours With Volgistics
Managing compliance shouldn’t feel overwhelming. With Volgistics, the process is simple, structured, and adaptable. Here’s how Volgistics works for your organization:
1. Sign up Volunteers Quickly
Start by creating online applications and profiles in Volgistics. This keeps all essential details in one place — no paper forms or lost documents. Volunteers can easily fill out forms and join the team.
2. Log Hours
Volunteers can clock in and out using kiosks or other devices. For organizations that allow self-reported time, managers can review and approve submissions before they’re recorded. Hourly data is automatically sent to volunteer profiles, making hours accurate and easy to track.
3. Approve Hours
Volgistics includes built-in approval tools that simplify verification before finalizing entries. Entries post to records and can be edited or marked “Audited.” This makes it easier to check entries before generating a report.
4. Generate Instant Reports
When it’s time to confirm hours for Medicaid’s community engagement requirement, you can produce detailed reports instantly. These reports are formatted for readability. Volgistics makes it simple to share proof with volunteers or provide documentation for audits.
Why Trust Us?
Volgistics has decades of experience in the volunteer management industry. We’ve dedicated our solutions to streamlining volunteer management, so you can focus on supporting your community. Volgistics is your complete solution for volunteer organizing, scheduling, communication, and reporting.
We build our solutions using the latest development tools and techniques, creating a tool that works with your needs. Volgistics will scale with your needs and is built with customization in mind. We offer live demos and free trials for potential clients — we have full confidence in the effectiveness and convenience of Volgistics for your organization.
Improve Volunteer Hours Tracking — Start Your Free Trial Today
OBBB is expected to bring in new volunteers seeking to fulfill their required hours. Preparing now helps organizations avoid last-minute overload, errors, and compliance risks. Volgistics simplifies hour tracking and reporting for volunteer organizations, all in one centralized, cloud-based system.
Now is the perfect time to set up your system before demand spikes. With Volgistics, you can streamline hour logging, eliminate paper records, and provide volunteers with more accurate documentation for their Medicaid requirements.
Start your free trial today and make volunteer hours tracking stress-free. Onboarding is simple and comes with full customer support to guide you every step of the way.