Information Builders’ WebFocus BI Aids Award-Winning Healthcare Firm 
A winner of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for health care is using Information Builders’ WebFOCUS business intelligence platform to continually improve operations. Poudre Valley Health System in Colorado will apply BI to medical chart auditing, patient safety predictions, statistical analysis, and documentation compliance.
A winner of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for health care is using Information Builders’ WebFOCUS business intelligence platform to continually improve operations.
The project with Colorado’s Poudre Valley Health System will apply BI to medical chart auditing, patient safety predictions, statistical analysis, and documentation compliance, PVHS officials said.
“The insight we obtain from our clinical quality efforts guides corrective action within the organization and enables us to provide a higher level of care, such as a need for extra documentation or better training in certain areas,” said DaRon Zimmerman, director of Decision Support at PVHS, in a statement.
Using Information Builders’ WebFOCUS will let the health care provider improve visibility of many of their processes by tracking activities., statistics and compliance right down to a facility, a department, or even individual user levels. This level of detailed data will help PVHS uncover and adhere to best practices, as well as find recurring problems, Zimmerman added.
PVHS Uses WebFOCUS To Build on BI Success
Some 100 PVHS managers and directors current use WebFOCUS to analyze cashflow and budget issues, such as money paid out for overtime, double time, call backs, extra shifts, and on-call pay, all of which must be paid in addition to the staff’s regular salaries. Managers use and HR dashboard to compare budget projections to actual expenditures to keep track of how much money is spent over and above salaries, the company said.
Within six months, using WebFOCUS’ data capture, analysis and reporting functions, PVHS had decreased overtime hours by 16% and decreased all premium-pay hours by 25%. These double-digit savings came even as the number of patients has increased.
PVHS was the only healthcare provider in the U.S. to receive the 2008 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, because of the steps it took over a 10-year period to improve every aspect of its operations, including clinical quality, customer service, and staff, physician, and volunteer satisfaction, the company said. PVHS will continue to use WebFOCUS BI technology to measure and report on progress.
“At a time when the entire U.S. healthcare industry is looking for tangible ways to boost quality and cut costs, Poudre Valley Health System has shown how business intelligence technology can help healthcare organizations achieve better care and safer outcomes,” said Gerald Cohen, president and CEO of Information Builders, in the statement.
