Before 2008, Southwest General Health Center was exceeding its budget for total labor costs.
The private, not-for-profit 354-bed facility implemented Kronos' workforce management and labor analytics tools by the end of 2007 and achieved $10 million annual labor cost savings for 2008.
The Emergency Department alone was responsible for an overage of $25,000 per pay period. Analyses revealed that relying on retrospective patient volume data to guide its ED staffing projections had created significant variance between actual staffing costs and budgeted staffing costs.
The ability to aggregate and analyze productivity data on Southwest General's 2,500 employees resulted in the elimination of over-scheduling and reduction of over-payments across the board, without impacting patient care or satisfaction.
Hospitals need to manage their finite labor resources, including premium labor sources such as overtime and nurse agencies, said Brian Graves, global practice leader of Health Care for Kronos. "They want visibility into how they're spending money on labor sources so they can match the labor sources to the workload and do it in a timely and efficient manner," he said.
In addition to time and attendance and labor analytics applications, Kronos provided Southwest General Health Center with clinical and financial consulting to help management understand how to use the information to meet their goals.
Presenting information that is timely, user-friendly and actionable is key, said Graves. He also noted that executive leadership support is critical for successful implementation.
Collaboration on standardization of metrics is required, especially for integrated delivery networks with multiple facilities.
The ability to centralize data and push it out to enable enterprise-wide visibility also promotes the identification of best practices and intervention, he said. Chief nursing officers in other facilities that have implemented the solutions have reported satisfaction in realizing the appropriate staff levels for patient care delivery.
Southwest General Health Center was named by HealthGrades as one of the 2009 "America's Best 100 Hospitals" for the third year in a row and cited by Thomson Reuters as a 100 Top Hospital and 100 Top Cardiovascular Hospital. The facility has won accolades for its ability to deliver quality care at a low cost.
Southwest General's salaries composed 39 percent of its net revenue in 2005. Not content with that metric, the hospital lowered that percentage to 35 percent in 2008 after implementing the workforce management tool.
Graves said that, through information technology and process improvement, Southwest General continues to achieve significant improvement from both the business and quality of care sides of healthcare.