Margaret R. Pardee Memorial Hospital
Hendersonville, NC

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Pardee Hospital enlists JJWild to help implement all their MEDITECH general financial modules in only five months, interfacing with a pre-existing clinical information system.

This case study originally appeared in Inside Perspective, JJWild’s electronic newsletter for the MEDITECH community.

Nestled in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina is Hendersonville, a town that enjoys a gentle climate, beautiful scenery, and rich cultural heritage. And in Hendersonville, you will find Margaret R. Pardee Memorial Hospital.

Pardee Hospital is noted for its outreach into the community for wellness and prevention, and for its high-tech diagnostic and treatment capabilities. In addition to the 222-bed acute care main campus, Pardee has several other locations: a 130-bed nursing facility, an adult day services center, a health education center, an urgent care facility, home health, rehab services, and a women’s health center.

Building MEDITECH into the equation.

A clinical information system supports the hospital’s advanced clinical services. To augment the clinical system Mark Brookman, Pardee’s Chief Information Officer, made the decision to install MEDITECH’s suite of financial and administrative modules. The challenge: he had only five months to successfully implement all of MEDITECH’s general financial modules—General Ledger, Fixed Assets, Payroll/Personnel, Materials Management, and Accounts Payable. In addition, the new system would have to support five separate corporations, and interface to the existing clinical information system. Supplementary applications, including Admissions, Medical Records, Abstracting, and Billing/Accounts Receivable (B/AR) were scheduled to go live just three months later.

This unusual combination of a mixed-vendor environment, a multi-corporate organization, and the fast-track timeframe prompted Brookman to enlist the help of outside resources. He says, “We chose to use outside consulting help to ensure that we had the highest quality project possible. We wanted additional expertise in the applications area. We also needed someone who could work with MEDITECH to find solutions, and to help us create custom reports.” Mark considered several consulting firms, and found a partner in JJWild, chosen because of our strong relationship with MEDITECH.

JJWild helps make it happen, on time.

Deliverables for the project included dictionary review and recommendations, unit testing, integration testing, development of training material, training, parallel testing, on-site go-live support, and post go-live support. JJWild provided several consultants to meet Pardee’s specific needs. Each brought a unique focus and specialized skill set to the assignment, and each was called in only when needed for their particular area of expertise.

The services provided not only helped Pardee meet their tight timelines, but also facilitated a transfer of knowledge that allowed the hospital staff to seamlessly continue managing the system after go-live. Bill Hall, Pardee’s Director of Patient Financial Services (PFS), was impressed. “Having spent 25 years in the business, we found the B/AR consultant’s expertise and professionalism to be a welcome addition to our PFS/BAR staff. She was well-rounded in her knowledge of the product at hand. And with years of personal PFS business office experience, she was able to relate to our particular issues and make sound recommendations.”

Mark Brookman was also pleased. “The JJWild consultants were top notch. They brought both MEDITECH application expertise and hospital operational experience. JJWild was a good partner with us in our projects. They were flexible with scheduling and worked with us to manage our costs.”

Pardee Hospital is an excellent example of an organization that was able to clearly identify their project needs and establish a strategic partnership to achieve their goals. By drawing on JJWild’s experience and expertise, they were able to keep their focus on the overall project, and smoothly make the transition from application building to a successful go-live, to independence in maintaining their MEDITECH system.

Some tips for a successful project

We feel that successes such as Pardee Hospital can be directly attributed to JJWild’s collaborative partnership approach, in which the hospital takes ownership of the project, with the end goal of independently sustaining an ongoing information system. Our role is to help everything get started on the right track, on a sound technical foundation.

Here are some thoughts to keep in mind when planning your own MEDITECH project

• Review your current operation, and determine what processes will change with the implementation of a new system. Part of this review should include an assessment of existing reports, a determination as to the need for these reports, and identification of replacement reporting tools.
• Don’t underestimate the initial establishment of parameters and dictionaries. The definition of these tools will drive all future decisions.
• There is no such thing as too much testing. Carefully plan for unit testing, integrated testing, and parallel testing. And then conduct the tests as thoroughly as possible.
• Good communication is essential. Establish regular sessions (bi-weekly, at least) in which all core teams have open discussions regarding decisions that need to be made. Make the project high profile. Discuss it in department meetings, newsletters, posters, etc. Everyone in the facility should be aware that a major change is coming, because it will impact all aspects of your organization’s workflow process.

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