CHARLOTTE, N.C. (March 11, 2010) – Frederick Memorial Healthcare System, of Frederick, Md. achieved more than $5 million in labor cost savings with the Premier healthcare alliance through the use of LaborConnect™, Premier’s labor management program.

Under Frederick’s previous internal productivity system, management was not convinced the organization was operating as efficiently as possible. Frederick chose LaborConnect to address its labor issues with a minimum goal of $500,000 in savings or cost avoidance.

Through Frederick’s implementation of LaborConnect, combined efforts led to a validated savings of $5,181,560 in FY2009. As a part of the program, a Premier Performance Partner, an on-site performance improvement expert, provided six days per month of consulting services that helped develop, refine and better manage their labor management program. The Performance Partner return on investment alone was nearly 5-to-1.

“Investing in Premier’s LaborConnect was definitely a timely decision – one that has resulted in significant savings and return on investment,” said Michelle Mahan, chief financial officer of Frederick.

The Performance Partner helped install OperationsAdvisor^® (OA), Premier’s Web-based labor benchmarking solution, as well as:

• Trained and oriented managers and directors to new products and reports.
• Monitored “watch lists” to help underperformers develop action plans.
• Incorporated FY2009 labor benchmarks into the FY2010 labor budget process using OA.

Continued Mahan, “OA is an excellent benchmarking and productivity tool, but the real savings have been the result of the work of our Premier Performance Partner, who not only helped us develop and implement our labor management program, but helps us manage it effectively. She has filled the role of labor coach beautifully, helping both department and executive leaders get the most benefit in a very short time frame. I definitely recommend LaborConnect.”

Ratings of staffing levels on Frederick’s annual employee engagement survey improved; mean score was 3.39 on a five-point scale, nearly halfway between “somewhat” and “strongly” agree. 

With more than 500 subscribing facilities, OA is the only labor management solution that fully integrates a productivity measurement system with quarterly and annual benchmarking, along with comparative data analysis. OA offers a unique combination of productivity monitoring, assessment and comparative data so that hospitals can confidently compare operational performance, identify attainable performance improvement opportunities and achieve a rapid return on investment.

www.premierinc.com

TUSTIN, Calif., March 11, 2010 – In hybrid catheterization procedures it is crucial that the imaging system provides the flexibility to quickly and easily access both the patient and ancillary equipment. To form its new hybrid catheterization suite, Miami Children’s Hospital, a pioneer in hybrid procedures, recently installed Toshiba America Medical System’s Infinix^TM CF-i bi-plane system with the new CAT-880B hybrid catheterization table. When combining the five-axis positioner of the Infinix-i system with the titling and cradling features of the hybrid table, physicians are able to obtain optimal image angles while having unprecedented access to patients. Miami Children’s Hospital will use its new hybrid cath lab for complex interventions on patients of all sizes, from newborns to young adults.

The Infinix CF-i bi-plane system with the five-axis positioner allows for superior patient access, an extremely important feature for hybrid procedures. The Infinix CF-i/BP has a unique ability to rotate the floor mounted C-arm and position the ceiling mounted C-arm to create 180 degree patient access around the head end of the table. The freely moving components, ergonomically friendly design and five-axis positioner enable physicians to obtain numerous image angulations for cardiac diagnosis and interventional procedures without re-positioning the patient. 

Toshiba’s CAT-880B hybrid catheterization table is designed to assist clinicians during imaging or surgery to allow for greater positioning flexibility and patient access. The table functionality with side-to-side cradle and head-to-toe tilt permits clinicians to angle the table in the best position to quickly complete procedures. The flexibility and ergonomic design enhances the clinician’s ability to work around the patient and accommodate views that conventional angiographic tables cannot achieve.

"The head-to-toe tilting and side-to-side cradling provided by Toshiba's CAT-880B hybrid catheterization table creates a true surgical operating room environment in the hybrid suite,” said Dr. Evan Zahn, director of Cardiology, Miami Children’s Hospital. “This unique, intuitive and easy to use table allows for greater patient access, more stability during procedures and unique imaging angles not possible using conventional cath lab tables. Combining this surgical table with the Infinix-i X-ray system and its five-axis positioner creates the ideal hybrid catheterization lab.”

www.medical.toshiba.com

• 95% of IT practitioners report that someone in their organization has had a laptop lost or stolen and 72% report that it resulted in a data breach. Only 44% report that the organization was able to prove the contents were encrypted. 
• 33% of IT practitioners believe encryption makes it unnecessary to use other security measures, whereas 58 percent of business managers believe this to be the case. 
• 62% of business managers surveyed agree that encryption stops cyber criminals from stealing data on laptops versus only 46% of IT practitioners who feel the same way. 
• 36% of business managers surveyed record their encryption password on a document such as a post-it note to jog their memory or share the key with other individuals. In contrast, virtually none of the IT practitioners record their password on a private document or share it with another person.

Blue Bell, Pa.—March 11, 2010—“Managing and Securing Mobile Healthcare Data and Devices,” a commissioned technology adoption profile conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Fiberlink Communications Corporation was released today with findings on the top needs of healthcare IT leaders. With 95% of healthcare enterprises relying on smartphones for work, this industry is one of the most mobile across all verticals.

“Forrester’s study reflects what we’ve been hearing from healthcare IT leaders; mobility is critical for healthcare professionals, but IT must remain cognizant of where critical data is being stored and what’s at risk”

Leveraging its Business Data Services (BDS) network of healthcare and life sciences IT decision makers, Forrester found that regulatory compliance tops the list of concerns with 86 percent of the respondents ranking it as a high or critical priority. 90 percent of the IT leaders queried stated that data security is of high or critical importance, further underscoring the current concerns. With the industry sorely in need of a solution for these challenges, more than half of the IT leaders stated the need for a tool that can poll for device encryption, while greater than a third of the respondents noted the need for a solution that can also enable wireless connectivity and produce policy violation alerts.

The Forrester study states: “There’s good reason for these IT pros to be concerned: 31% noted that their data has been compromised at least once over the course of 2009.” It continues, “What then is exposing these enterprises to data leaks, compliance complications, and an overwhelming concern around data security? As close to 100% of healthcare organizations take on devices such as smartphones, adding to the desktops and laptops already in place, there isn’t uniform control across the varying types of devices users rely on.”

“Forrester’s study reflects what we’ve been hearing from healthcare IT leaders; mobility is critical for healthcare professionals, but IT must remain cognizant of where critical data is being stored and what’s at risk,” said Jim Szafranski, senior vice president, customer platform services of Fiberlink. “The solution to these challenges must provide 24x7 mobile flexibility for healthcare workers while providing IT with visibility and management tools that maintain tight regulatory compliance and data security at a cost that makes sense.”

Summarizing the many findings in the study, Forrester notes: “What healthcare IT users are asking for is a single tool that meets their demands of providing mobility through wireless connectivity for users while giving IT better visibility into the users’ computing environment with proactive policy violation alerts and an ability to enforce security measures such as on-device encryption. Tools with this set of functionality would be an answer to the wish list of the healthcare IT respondent base.”

www.maas360.com