Accommodating Hospital Growth With Strategic HR Vision and Integrated Workforce Technology

Fairfield Medical Center Case Study

The Future Demands ModernizationWhile many similar organizations were struggling to

stay viable, FMC was growing. Recognizing that the

organization’s growth would have a direct impact on

their department, the FMC Human Resources (HR)

team knew that their use of outdated and inefficient

processes would not be able to withstand industry

and organizational changes over the long-term.

“Our processes and systems may have worked

ten years ago, but it’s a different climate today

and there is no way we can recruit, retain and

reward current and future employees using

outdated systems,” said Debra Palmer, MS, RN,

Fairfield Medical Center, Chief Human Resource

Officer & Corporate Compliance Officer.

ProblemInefficient processes prevented the Fairfield Medical Center HR team from being able to execute quickly, resulting in low satisfaction scores. Internally considered a support function, HR wanted to shift perceptions and become an integral part of the organization’s business strategy.

SolutionAPI Healthcare helped identify a plan for achieving their vision to position HR as a business driver through the following integrated workforce management solutions:

• Human Resources and Payroll• Talent Management• Time and Attendance• Staffing and Scheduling

These days it’s rare to find a community-based hospital that hasn’t succumbed to consolidation or shut its doors due to lack of resources. Fairfield Medical Center (FMC) in Lancaster, Ohio is one of those organizations. Named a 2014 top place to work by Columbus CEO Magazine, FMC includes 222 beds, 2 surgery centers and 9 outpatient facilities. Serving a community 45 minutes from Columbus, FMC is the largest employer in the county with 2,200 employees.

“We wanted to create cohesive, lean and standardized processes. API Healthcare’s expertise for managing healthcare talent, combined with their fully integrated technology, gave us exactly what we were searching for. In addition, the team at API Healthcare truly understands our business goals. They have

Operating in a silo, HR had minimal interaction

with organizational leadership and was considered

to be a transactional department, responsible

primarily for the hiring and disciplining of employees

and the managing of benefits. On average, it

was taking the HR team almost 40 days to fill

an open position. This created a trickle down

effect that impacted overall satisfaction with HR

services and functions that was substantiated

by the department’s low satisfaction scores.

“When we looked deep into why we were

struggling, we discovered that our weaknesses

centered around processes. We spent a significant

amount of time doing things inefficiently and it

was impacting how we were perceived by leaders

within the organization,” explains Palmer.

It was determined that modernization of systems

and processes would not only enable HR to work

more efficiently, but it would also allow them to

earn recognition as an important part of a business

strategy that supports organizational growth goals.

FMC turned to API Healthcare to help them build a

plan and execute a strategy that would transform HR

operations and earn them respect from leadership.

Making the Business Case for HR“First and foremost we needed to inspire a new way

of thinking, not just within our own department,

but at the top of the organization as well. We knew

that our department could and should be a valued

contributor to operational strategy, and we chose

to collaborate with API Healthcare to help us make

the business case for investing in HR,” says Palmer.

ResultsHR no longer operates in a silo and is considered an important player in overall business strategy. • Improved open position fill rates to 28 days vs. 38 days• Improved overall rating of HR services by more than 2 points to 4.35 out of 5.00

helped us leverage technology in a way that not only gets business results, but also utilizes the best of our employee talent to care for our patients.”– Debra Palmer, MS, RN, Fairfield Medical Center,

Chief Human Resource Officer & Corporate Compliance Officer

API Healthcare’s industry-focused workforce

solutions helped FMC pull the hard data that

supported a better understanding of talent

and its value to the organization. By equating

known inefficiencies with specific numbers, the

HR team was able to demonstrate the financial

impact to the organization’s bottom line that

came from years of operating in isolation.

“By showing the CEO that even a small error rate

in payroll each pay period was equal to a certain

number of hours in actual labor costs, we were

able to paint a picture that clearly demonstrates

the role HR plays in affecting the organization’s

bottom line. API Healthcare helped us demonstrate

the value of our talent and link it to the mission,

values and goals of FMC,” Palmer elaborates.

API Healthcare’s technology provided the

opportunity for fully integrated processes

across several critical HR functions such as

talent acquisition, talent management, staffing

and scheduling, and time and attendance.

However, the recruiting and onboarding of new

employees was the function that had generated

the greatest frustration among employees.

Palmer explains, “We were taking far too long

to recruit and fill open positions. API Healthcare

provided the solution that allowed us to modernize

this process and take everything online. We now

only have to enter demographic information

once and have automated our sourcing and

hiring module. Onboarding of all new employees

is now done electronically on the web.”

In addition to improving efficiencies in recruiting

and onboarding, API Healthcare’s complete

integration also means that valuable employee

data, such as credentials and expertise will follow

an employee across the entire organization for

the lifespan of that employee’s relationship with

FMC. Self-service technology is empowering

employees to own their professional information,

requiring them to take responsibility for

demonstrating and documenting competencies.

A Valued Contributor Today and in the FutureNo longer operating in isolation, the FMC HR

department has earned their rightful position as an

important contributor to overall operational strategy.

Palmer summarizes, “Because we were able

to bring information and metrics to leadership

in a timely manner we were successfully able

to demonstrate our value and worth to the

organization and the overall bottom line. Perceptions

today are 180 degrees different than they were

when we started this process. Efficiencies and

satisfaction scores are up, and API Healthcare has

prepared us to remain agile and ready to support

FMC’s growth goals today and in the future.”

P H O N E W E B262.673.6815 apihealthcare.com

© 2015 API Healthcare Corporation, a GE Healthcare Company. All rights reserved.

Fairfield Medical Center has been rewarded for participation in this case study and is an active participant in the API Healthcare STAR client reference program that rewards clients for sharing their outcomes, expertise and opinions.

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