Piedmont Behavioral Healthcare & the New Process - Microsoft Dynamics - Case Study Example

Pick a commercial (i.e. business-related) innovation developed after World War 2. It can be product, service or process related. Microsoft Dynamics -- Introduction Microsoft is a professionally managed topmost IT solutions providing company. It has been offering business management products, services, and solutions in all industry sectors including healthcare. The commercial innovative processes developed at Microsoft make business functions smooth and automatic. Microsoft Dynamics is one such innovative business software product that meets all industry needs and helps corporations take crucial business decisions. Based on Microsoft software, Microsoft Dynamics makes adoption easy with no risk in the implementation of the solution for the benefit of the business. Solutions automate and streamline financial, business intelligence, and supply chain processes to result in business success http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/en/us/why-dynamics.aspx). Microsoft Dynamics is a provider of integrated, flexible business management solutions that an organization can rely on to make responsible business decisions with greater surety and guarantee of success. Microsoft Dynamics is trustworthy software like Microsoft Office, which means less need to learn on the skills required for people delegated the tasks, so they need not manually operate the processes and work on the most crucial job functions leaving the technology function to Microsoft Dynamics. And because Microsoft is a name to reckon, it smoothly functions with the systems that a company already has implemented. By automating and streamlining monetary, customer relationship, and logistic processes through its work-flows, Microsoft Dynamics bridges together people, processes, and technologies, increasing the productivity and efficiency of a business, and plays an active role in business success. Piedmont Behavioral Healthcare & the New Process To explain the process of adoption, example of a segment of healthcare industry is being taken. Microsoft Dynamics healthcare management solution at Piedmont Behavioral Healthcare (PBH) has efficiently managed the change process at this Managed Care Organization. Change Management at Piedmont Behavioral Healthcare (PBH), which is a Managed Care Organization, has increased efficiencies to the tune of saving $75,000. PBH is situated in Concord, North Carolina. It provides Medicaid to more than 20,000 patients in a year. As budget allocation for the Medicaid facility is under the state preview, it was felt that to work within the constraints of limited budget, the facility needed to be efficiently functioned. The financial management software at PBH was obsolete; it lacked integration and automation. Accounting jobs required total IT back up. Change had become imperative to manage the dilapidated financial system. It had become more urgent to necessitate change because of organizational changes happening at the facility. The administration model had changed from direct provider of services to managed care organization (MCO), requiring funding for patients. Under the new model, budget is decided by the state on the strength of patients attended by PBH. Technology has been instrumental in bringing efficiency, as manually processed transactions were time and resource consuming. Thus, earlier PBH used to be a direct provider of services to patients. Now, it is a managed care organization that looks into the fund management aspect of business as well. Budget is funded by the state on the basis of the number of patients attended by PBH. Now, the organization depended solely on the government funds for the new business model that has come into practice with the change management implemented, the control over the financial information has given way to accurate and timely reporting, which was not possible under the AS/400 system. According to Kevin Ennis, Information Systems Director at PBH, “Our administrative resources are much smaller than a company of our size that has access to a privately funded budget. As such, we can’t rely on manually processed transactions and require that technology play a big role in the efficiency of our organization.” Reason of Success Change management under the dynamic managed care provider model has made the processes cost-efficient, remunerative, and effective for managing business information. The new business management system that the change has brought in the day-to-day working of PBH has resulted in the fulfillment of three specific and important business objectives. *Erase double entry over multiple systems and enhance data accuracy. *Lessen the IT support burden with a maintenance-friendly system. *Increase productivity. Why was Change Necessary? Earlier, PBH was being managed on IBM AS/400 server. It lacked integration with the software that was being used. There was nothing like automation. The start up accounting functions needed full IT back up. Data synchronization was not possible. All data had to be entered manually on billing and payment, created in the care management software and entered into HTE, the financial managing software on the AS/400 system. It took a lot of more time of the employees, resulting in productivity loss and recurring chances of feeding wrong data. Accessing information from the HTE system was time-consuming, taking extra time in report generation. Lengthy reports were hard to customize and channeling the right information to the related staff was arduous. It was draining the limited IT resources at the command of PBH. Taking note of the problems being faced at work, the PBH team finally selected Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner InterDyn – Artis to implement Microsoft Business Solutions–Great Plains® software, which is a part of Microsoft Dynamics™ as its business management solution. The solution runs on the Microsoft Windows® 2000 Server operating system with the Active Directory® directory service. The AS/400 has not been discarded totally; it is still used for some of PBH’s healthcare-only applications. Microsoft Great Plains syncs well with PBH’s current environment, including Microsoft Office 2000 Professional Edition, resulting in focused work processes. PBH has also developed an interface between Microsoft Great Plains and its claims management application. The Process of Adoption at PBH Earlier installed systems were quite laborious manual processes, but Microsoft Great Plains has facilitated PBH to automate and maximize its financial management functions. Under the new business model, using Standard 837, a common protocol in communicating with Medicaid, PBH electronically sends an invoice to Medicaid. Medicaid settles the payment. PBH writes a check via its claims management system to pay the service provider. The payables checks are transferred automatically into Microsoft Great Plains through the Bank Reconciliation module, which automatically shifts the journal entry to the General Ledger. Positive Effects on People With the high-yielding capabilities of Microsoft FRx, PBH has been able to comfortably produce complete and customized financial reports. Actually, with traits like automated report processing, generation of month-end reports require very less time than it used to take —the estimated job time has decreased from 120 hours to just less than 15 minutes. With the additional feature of Crystal Reports, PBH is able to create distinct quality reports that can deliver information in interesting views, instead of 400 unmanageable pages. Using Microsoft FRx “building block” Approach By using Microsoft FRx “building block” approach, PBH employees can collect reports that provide only relevant information in detail for the stakeholders. Other than the month-end report, PBH accounting section can generate other standard reports for managers, board members, auditors, and others. It is possible to produce customizable reports with Microsoft FRx without changing the reporting procedure. Business Approach at PBH To begin with, PBH wanted to know what products and technologies the Microsoft could offer as a solution, based on its reliability and practicality. It was for sure to opt for a Microsoft solution only. The intention at PBH was to select a technology partner who was familiar with the PBH business requirements. Limitations at PBH were very stark on financial constraints and the add-ons needed to match with its business model. Finally, it was decided to manage change with Microsoft Partner Program, Microsoft Gold Certified Partner InterDyn – Artis. InterDyn – Artis, Microsoft Business Solutions--Great Plains® software PBH has selected to work with InterDyn – Artis, Microsoft Business Solutions--Great Plains® software as its new business management system. InterDyn – Artis has vast kinship with Microsoft Great Plains and has implemented the new solution in just four months and quite less than the sanctioned budget. Microsoft technology has provided back up to PBH’s crucial requirements. Microsoft Business Solutions for Financial Management–Great Plains has included the General Ledger, Payables Management, and Bank Reconciliation modules and Microsoft Business Solutions for Analytics–FRx® software. The new automation has saved one full time human resource to be used to more urgent needs and tasks. The solution runs on the Microsoft Windows® 2000 Server operating system with the Active Directory® directory service. The AS/400 is also being used for certain PBH’s healthcare-specific applications. Microsoft Great Plains has assimilated well with PBH’s current environment, including Microsoft Office 2000 Professional Edition. It has made business processes streamlined. PBH has also developed an interface between Microsoft Great Plains and its claims management application. Key Elements adopted through the Change Process Earlier, heterogeneous systems were manually processed, but Microsoft Great Plains has facilitated PBH to automate and maximize its financial management tasks. Senior management at PBH was very clear and focused on the need of a new business model. According to Marti Lebar, Financial Accounting Manager at PBH, “With our new business model, it’s even more critical that we have control over our own financial information. Now, we have an even greater demand on accurate and timely reporting—this was practically impossible to achieve with the AS/400 system.” Government Policy There was no direct role of government policy other than that due to organizational level changes of providing Medicaid to more than 20,000 patients and the PBH being under state preview, funding was not easy; budgetary constraints were felt by the management. That’s why it decided to change over to new and better technology that saved huge funds to be distributed where they were needed more urgently. Beneficial Effects on Business and Business Environment Benefits of integration had accrued to PBH not only in financial management jobs by saving time and resources used in reporting and reconciliation but IT department has also got the revenue leverage from its Microsoft Great Plains implementation. The streamlining of modules with Microsoft Great Plains has resulted in more than meeting PBH important business aims almost at once. It has proved faith in Microsoft’s Great Plains making it a right decision to take. Productivity has increased manifold with increased PBH capacity to attend to crucial jobs, and has minimized its costs of functioning. The organization has saved in a year U.S. $75,000 in IT management only. Better Efficiency Builds Focus on Strategic Tasks, Saves FTE Equivalent Because of close integration between its present infrastructure and Microsoft Great Plains, PBH has been able to share data over its systems to easily automate business processes and improve efficiency in financial management jobs. For example, the Microsoft Great Plains Bank Reconciliation module has streamlined transactions with PBH’s bank. PBH gets reconciliation data straight from its bank. Received bank files shift automatically to Microsoft Great Plains General Ledger instead of depending on manually entering the data. Additionally, payroll processing has become more effective than before. Earlier, payroll functions were done internally, now PBH has decided to outsource all payroll functions to a primary payroll processor. It has opted for a payroll processor that integrates with Microsoft Great Plains, and in return the payroll processor sends a General Ledger-ready file that checks automatically into Microsoft Great Plains, which reduces the need for manual data entry. Strategic functions like budgeting and data analysis get more resources to focus on. As Lebar remarked, “Because of the new automation, the accounting department was able to free up time equivalent to one full-time employee (FTE) to do other things that were sorely needed.” Reduction in Reporting Time from 120 Hours to 15 Minutes Earlier, the accounting department generated a report at the month-end of 400 pages, as the AS/400 system did not permit customizable and flexible reporting. These reports included all relevant financial data for the month. It took many days and needed a number of resources from the accounting department and one full-time employee from the IT department to run the report. Maximum time consumed in report production could take 120 hours and that too of no practical use, as the report length was too much. “Good thing” to happen at PBH With the expansion in Medicaid business, PBH is better positioned to avail the benefits of technology through the software’s out-of-box functionality, smooth deployment, and maintenance built in partnership with Microsoft Great Plains. PBH no more need to depend on its IT department to operate the financial system efficiently; the accounting department has become self-sufficient for generating W2s, 1099s, and other reports without the support of IT department. According to a PBH spokesperson, Ennis, “The savings have been dramatic… Almost immediately after implementation...savings of $75,000 in support and maintenance costs. Not only is that an annual savings, but also, as we grow and continue to streamline more tasks and use Microsoft Great Plains to its fullest, that figure will surely rise.” Reference Microsoft: Case Studies, 2005. Piedmont behavioral healthcare. Available from: http://www.microsoft.com/canada/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?casestudyid=48770 [Accessed 25 May 2010]. Microsoft Dynamics, 2010. Why Microsoft Dynamics solutions for healthcare providers? Available from: http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/en/us/industries/healthcare.aspx [Accessed 25 May 2010]. Microsoft Dynamics, 2010. Learn about Microsoft Dynamics business software. Available from: http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/en/us/why-dynamics.aspx [Accessed 25 May 2010]. Read More