Technology Delivers Cost Savings of $139,000,
Improved Moral and Enhanced Patient Care
Across the nation, nursing shortages and increased labor costs are forcing provider organizations to re-evaluate staffing practices. In 2005, Amarillo, Texas-based Northwest Texas Healthcare System (NWTHS) was using an internally-developed, manual system to schedule nursing resources. Staffing costs continued to increase as they struggled with filling their most critical shifts.
NWTHS executives determined that a more flexible, automated staff bidding solution would allow them to not only fill their critical, premium pay shifts, but also improve nurse recruiting and retention through improved morale and access to advanced technology, reduce stipend pay costs, make management’s staffing job less cumbersome – all while continuing to deliver superior patient care.
In November 2005, NWTHS successfully implemented Critical Staffer and applied this automated staff bidding approach to their environment with many positive results.
Results and Benefits
The implementation of Critical Staffer accomplished the following benefits:
- Decreased stipend pay cost - While many of the above benefits are difficult to measure in terms of ROI, NWTHS has been able to measure a stipend pay cost savings of $139,000 in year-to-year spend (2005 to 2006).
- Increased staff satisfaction as a result of increased scheduling flexibility and access to advanced technology.
- Competitively priced and “budget-friendly”.
- Less cumbersome staffing process for management resulting in increased productivity.
- Zero impact to their ability to provide superior patient care – before, during and after implementation.
- Steady staff participation - While staff participation was initially a concern for some because of the issue of lack of Internet access, NWTHS has seen continuous increase in the percentage of bids awarded indicating that not only is the system being used, but its use is increasing.
Want to Know More?
To read more about the specific benefits being recognized at NWTHS, please request a copy of the full case study at www.decisioncritical.com/contactus.asp.
