Success Story
Back to the Future: Optimizing an Information System Investment

The Challenge

The system’s customized applications had resulted in an unwieldy IT environment that made any routine update far from routine in the amount of time required to implement. Several problems existed for the medical center:

• Upgrades were difficult in the customized environment
• Day-end run times were lengthy and interrupted user’s productive time
• Because staff trained on the system at the time of installation had long gone, valuable system knowledge was lost.
• Several of the medical center’s outlying clinics did not have the same upgrades to the old system requiring multiple entries of the same data during a patient’s stay.
• Failure to produce high-quality, informative, and collective reports hampered management’s ability to make sound business decisions.

ACS Healthcare Solutions’ challenge was to:

• Take the system back to model and simultaneously upgrade the Siemens’ Patient Management/Patient Accounting (PM/PA) applications to version 23/24—with a minimum of disruption
• Ensure knowledge transfer so that all users know Siemens’ INVISION functionality to maintain the system internally
• Evaluate, re-engineer, and document business processes and work flows—applying best practices—to maximize effectiveness of the system
• Optimize system parameters to allow for greater accuracy in billing and reporting
• Configure the Patient Accounting application through its master files to produce professional services claims (a task considered impossible by the vendor), reducing reliance on a stand-alone billing system
• Analyze and convert ad hoc reports to standard system reports to increase flexibility and reduce costs and use of system resources

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The Solution

During the months of planning, building, implementing and training, our multi-skilled team provided the technical analysts and business professionals to successfully implement Siemens’ INVISION PM/PA with a minimum of disruption.

ACS Healthcare Solutionsalso developed interfaces with the client’s many ancillary systems that eliminated the need to enter patient information multiple times.

When the medical center went live with the “back-to-model” version of Siemens’ PM/PA, the functionality surpassed the 10+ years of customizations.

The project also included electronic data interchange and a new 1500 Bill form installation, net- to-gross changeover in accounts receivable, and elimination/reduction in custom code. The go-live occurred with minimal downtime and maximum success.

Once the system was fully live and functioning, ownership of any further change was transferred to a well-trained medical center staff.

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The Results

This successful project is an example of how ACS Healthcare Solutionsassists our clients in meeting business challenges through total business solutions rather than stand-alone “implementation” technology. As a result of this project:

• The medical center realized savings in staffing cost and lost revenues by utilizing its HIS system to meet the current business environment.
• ACS Healthcare Solutions’ just-in-time staffing eliminated the need for the medical center to hire individuals with specific skills that would either be eliminated or redeployed at the end of the engagement.
• Days in Accounts Receivable decreased five days and cash collections increased $350,000 for the monthly average—an annualized increase in cash flow of $4,200,000—as a result of the introduction of “best practices.”
• The actual number of full time equivalents (FTE) decreased after the project as a result of streamlined processes. Those resources were redeployed into other areas of the hospital eliminating the need to hire for those open positions that would have cost the facility at least another $500,000 based on salary requirements for the area.

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Real Value

The medical center’s implementation and simultaneous process redesign and reengineering efforts concluded with a flawless, balanced and simultaneous go-live. As a result of this “back-to-model” project, the medical center realized these benefits:

• Improved employee understanding and use of the Siemens INVISION Patient Management and Patient Accounting System
• Improved operations
• Increased cash flow
• Reduced AR
• Improved workflows
• Reduced report processing times

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Contact Us

Contact us today to learn more about how ACS Healthcare Solutions can help you optimize your technology to realize your business goals.