Advocate And Slalom Challenge Healthcare Leaders To Find Hidden ROI At HIMSS14

ORLANDO, Fla. ­– Advocate Health Care and Slalom Consulting challenged healthcare IT leaders to uncover their hidden return on investment (ROI) in a joint presentation at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) annual conference in Orlando, Fla., on February 24, 2014. Slalom and Advocate shared how Advocate, one of the nation's top 10 health systems and the largest integrated healthcare system in Illinois, achieved dramatic business and clinical results from a unified communication and collaboration initiative and discussed how other healthcare organizations can benefit from the lessons learned.

Over the course of Advocate’s four-year initiative, a combination of Microsoft, Cisco, PerfectServe and custom-developed technologies was deployed, including a robust telepresence network, digital signage, a unified associate directory, collaboration tools, a new Intranet and secure HD clinician-to-clinician communications (used for sharing text messages, patient notifications, lab results and photos). As part of the program, Advocate also launched a custom system to provide patient feedback to the right people and departments, as well as implementing significant upgrades to email, instant messaging and web conferencing capabilities and executing the largest migration of Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) to Office 365 to occur in the U.S. at the time.

“Microsoft Office 365 combines the power of the cloud with the rich communication and collaboration capabilities that multi-disciplinary care teams need to deliver better outcomes in less time and at a lower cost,” said Dennis Schmuland, Chief Health Strategy Officer, Microsoft Corp. “It also addresses and adheres to the latest privacy, security and compliance regulations in effect today through a comprehensive, peer-reviewed HIPAA Business Associate Agreement, co-developed with a consortium of premier academic universities and health customers from across the country.”

“Technology selection was clearly a critical component of maximizing ROI for Advocate,” said Sarah Korf Dill, Client Service Partner for Slalom Consulting. “However, the solution is not always technical, even with a technology implementation of this scale. It’s impossible to maximize your ROI if the adoption isn’t there, or you don’t have the structure in place to support the changes. With this in mind, we placed equal focus on people, process and technology. Bringing a change management team on board early was key, as was solid governance and establishing alignment among hospital administrators, clinical teams and IT. ” 

As a result of the initiative, Advocate improved patient experience for the nearly 4 million individuals treated across Advocate’s 12 hospitals and 250 sites of care. The program significantly increased patient satisfaction, based on Press Ganey scores and the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS), and also showed an early reduction in readmission rates and higher levels of quality care. In addition, Advocate improved productivity and increased satisfaction for its 6,300 affiliated physicians and more than 34,000 associates, including nearly 10,000 nurses. The program also resulted in ongoing cost savings/avoidance in the millions of dollars, as well as considerable time savings and increased connectivity, collaboration and productivity across the system. 

“The ROI we achieved wasn’t just a result of what we did, but rather how we did it,” explained Rance Clouser, Vice President of Field Services for Advocate Health Care. “Our definition of ROI was never purely financial, either. Of course we had financial goals, but being truly successful meant increasing patient, physician and associate satisfaction; finding additional ways to advance patient safety; and dramatically improving communication, collaboration and productivity. We achieved the ROI we envisioned and more because we focused on all of these goals together—we started with our destination in mind, not specific tools.”  

About Advocate Health Care

Advocate Health Care, named among the nation’s Top 5 largest health systems based on quality by Truven Analytics, is the largest health system in Illinois and one of the largest health care systems in the Midwest. Advocate operates more than 250 sites of care, including 12 hospitals that encompass 11 acute care hospitals, the state’s largest integrated children’s network, five Level I trauma centers (the state’s highest designation in trauma care), three Level II trauma centers, one of the area’s largest home health care companies and one of the region’s largest medical groups. Advocate Health Care trains more primary care physicians and residents at its four teaching hospitals than any other health system in the state. As a not-for-profit, mission-based health system affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United Church of Christ, Advocate contributed $614 million in charitable care and services to communities across Chicagoland and Central Illinois in 2012.

About Slalom Consulting

Slalom Consulting brings together business and technology expertise to help companies drive enterprise performance, accelerate innovation, enhance the customer experience and increase employee productivity. The firm delivers award-winning solutions in such areas as information management and analytics, sales and marketing, organizational effectiveness, mobility and cloud through a national network of local offices and major alliance partners, including Microsoft, Salesforce.com and Amazon Web Services. Founded in 2001 and based in Seattle, Wash., Slalom has organically grown to more than 2,200 consultants. The company has been ranked as a Top 10 Best Firms to Work For by Consulting magazine four times and earned recognition from Microsoft as a Partner of the Year five times. More information about Slalom Consulting can be found by following the company on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. For additional information, visit www.slalom.com.