Axios Systems: Parkview Itil Itsm Case Study

industry sector HEALTHCARE

assyst – THE PRESCRIPTION FOR SERVICE

IMPROVEMENT AT PARKVIEW HEALTH SYSTEM

case study: PARKVIEW HEALTH Discover how assyst by Axios Systems enabled Parkview Health to lead IT trends in its industry with a modern ITILbased IT Service Management solution.

Axios Systems leads Parkview Health to ITIL A growing organization with an increasingly under-resourced help desk in place, Parkview Health System recognized the need for a consolidated solution to efficiently and effectively manage its IT infrastructure. As part of its “Project Embracing Transformation” initiative, Parkview Health implemented assyst, launching the organization on the ITIL Best Practices path to align people, processes and technology. The Background Striving to become northeast Indiana’s leading provider of healthcare services, Parkview Health System began its journey in 1878 with the foundation of its first hospital. Over 125 years later, the organization is one of the largest employers in Allen County, Indiana, employing over 6,000 full-time and part-time workers within seven hospitals, a network of healthcare providers, a health division, a physician medical group and a behavioral health group. As Parkview Health has grown, so has the challenge to meet its community’s need for quality cost-effective care. In order to meet this challenge, Parkview Health sought help from IT. In May 2004, the organization activated “Project Embracing Technology.” Project ET is a term that represents Parkview’s use of patient-centered information technology to help those in a clinical setting deliver the highest quality patient care in the most efficient and effective manner. “Project Embracing Technology” Project ET’s purpose is to integrate several aspects of patient care delivery, including radiology, laboratory, pharmacy and nursing into one interdisciplinary electronic solution to improve quality by minimizing errors such as duplicate charting, patient numbers and illegible handwriting to enhance patient safety. The system also makes patient information more accessible to physicians and clinicians who provide care by allowing them to document information one time and have it available for others to access conveniently and securely from any computer connected to the Parkview Health network. The basic platform of Project ET is a set of integrated tools that work together to enhance all aspects of a patient’s lifetime medical record. The information entered into various systems is used to help improve patient outcomes and quality of care. This process affirms that Parkview Health is on track with new trends and expectations in the U.S. healthcare industry. According to the Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking study completed by Hospitals & Health Networks, The American Hospital Association’s (AHA) magazine, Parkview Health earned recognition in 2005 and 2006 as being among the 100 “Most Wired” hospitals as well as among the 25 “Most Wireless” hospitals in the U.S.

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decided to use the ITIL Best Practices processes to help us develop a structured “ We Service Desk. Axios led us to ITIL – not the other way around.

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case study : PARKVIEW HEALTH

“Now, because of the workflows in assyst, we are getting better, more detailed information from the client.”

The study emphasized that hospitals, like Parkview Health, leading the way in IT, use a wider array of IT tools to address quality, conduct a larger percentage of clinical transactions via IT, and have more physicians entering orders themselves. These combined factors ultimately produce better outcomes and help hospitals achieve key goals, including safety and quality objectives.

The Challenge Prior to the advent of Project ET, several issues arose which contributed to Parkview Health’s search for an ITSM tool to improve its Incident Management process. “To make enhancements to the Help Desk tool, the entire system needed to be taken down. We were running an old version that the vendor no longer supported. This caused a lot of concern,” cited Jenny Gunkel, Support Center Information Services Supervisor. In the first weeks, days and even hours of Project ET’s implementation, Parkview’s small Help Desk was bombarded with calls. With the growth in the company, the number of support staff increased as did the need for a larger Service Desk solution that could scale to meet Parkview’s growing needs. “We were completely unable to develop a new Service Desk if we did not opt for an upgrade,” noted Ron Double, Parkview’s Director of Technology and Information Services. With the tool used prior to assyst, Parkview Health could not run reports nor retrieve information entered. “There was no way of managing what information you had. It was a black hole – you put stuff in and nothing came out,” said Double. “I was looking for something that I could pull reports from and then use to identify trends. I wanted to be able to do that while in the application,” said Gunkel. “I also wanted to include some troubleshooting steps within the application so the support staff could try to solve the problems and we could achieve a higher first call resolution from the tool itself.” The selection process criteria contained three principle requirements. First, the solution needed to have the ability to integrate with current systems used throughout Parkview Health. Second, the Service Desk wanted to get its Asset Management tied into trouble tickets, so it could report by device on what kind of problems they were experiencing. Third, it needed to implement a more efficient Incident Management process. It was essential for the new Service Desk to have the ability to track calls, understand where the calls were going, and be able to identify trends. Parkview met with multiple vendors and viewed the various products and options available in the market. Ultimately, assyst was chosen because it was designed from inception around the ITIL Best Practice philosophy. assyst provided a consistent set of IT Service Management guidelines and had an open interface to integrate with other systems.

The Solution Parkview uses to support the entire health organization. It is the primary tool used by the Service Desk for Incident Management, call tracking, and reporting. The data in the system is fed from an estimated user base of 11,000 individuals. Every user calls into the Service Desk; the Service Desk then logs and tracks the calls. Glenn Hall, Customer Services Manager notes, “Now, because of the workflows in assyst, we are getting better, more detailed information from the client. In turn, when a call needs to be escalated into the second or third level support, better information is passed along. Also, by capturing higher quality information, if the issues arise again, we can provide better support to the client.” “We wanted to develop an Incident Management process that we could follow all the way through. Instead of dealing with pieces of a process, we decided to use the ITIL Best Practices processes to help us develop a structured Service Desk. Axios led us to ITIL – not the other way around,” adds Ron Double. “One of the things we really liked was that everything started in the Service Desk and ended in the Service Desk. assyst forces you to close the loop.” As Support Center Supervisor, Jenny Gunkel uses assyst to run reports. On a monthly basis, she tracks first call resolution. Additionally, Gunkel reviews a report that indicates how many calls were logged by the Service Desk versus their telephone reports and then she can determine if there are any differences. She also uses assyst to create comparison reports on trend analysis. “The reports are wonderful and easy to use,” remarks Gunkel. “We didn’t do reports before it’s entered in the assyst event monitor, I run some type of report every day.”

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Using the reports, Parkview has been able to identify a skill set profile and training requirements needed for call center employees. As a result, the more knowledgeable staff has been able to reduce Incident handling times and raise the first level resolution rate, ultimately improving both first and second level support teams. “Due to assyst, we are better able to focus on service improvement areas, such as first call resolution and call wait times,” explains Double. “With the Project ET transformation that we have gone through, our department is now the support hub for everything that goes on in the organization. IT is now considered a part of the delivery of patient care. We deal specifically with the integration of systems. We are not only support; rather, we have part in everything from the technologies, the applications and the implementation onto support. We are responsible for all the pieces that now include IT that we may not have been responsible for in the past.” In addition to Incident Management, Parkview Health has implemented Change Management. By establishing the Service Desk as the single point of contact, it has been able to improve customer service provided to the client as well as simplify and control Changes made within the IS organization. Parkview Health is now able to accurately monitor who submitted a Change, who completed the Change, or at least review the status of a Change. “Since implementing assyst, we have a lot more departments using us as their initial contact,” adds Gunkel. “Overall, for the money and what you got in return, assyst provided the best value to our organization. We got all the pieces we needed in one tool. Instead of dealing with pieces of a process, Axios led us to ITIL’s Best Practices framework which has helped us to develop a fully structured process.”

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Benefits Effective and consistent Best Practice IT processes Improved management information available Reduced Incident handling time Raised first-level resolution rates Simplified and controlled Changes

case study: PARKVIEW HEALTH

The Future The Future of ITSM at Parkview Health As Parkview Health continues to grow as an organization so too does its need to implement other processes included in the ITIL framework. Along with a strategy to continually improve existing Incident and Change Management processes, Parkview Health plans to implement Problem Management next, followed by Asset and Configuration Management.

Glenn Hall remarks, “We are looking to continually develop our Service Desk and assyst is one tool that we are using to help us. Since we are in constant change mode in terms of operational and procedural aspects of the organization, we now have to figure out how to make all of those functions work for us. I think assyst can do a whole lot more than what we are utilizing it for, and there are a lot of things I’d like to see happen with the solution, primarily with Asset & Configuration Management and Problem Management. Due to the increase in our client base, the equipment base has nearly doubled since implementing assyst. Deploying these new processes will better manage our maintenance costs.”

"We were impressed by the understanding of our business needs demonstrated by Axios and found that assyst is the ideal tool to meet our requirements."

"What really clinched the business for Axios was the professionalism of its consultants" "We chose assyst based on our long term objectives, which were to implement ITIL and a solution that would support this."

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