Managing Change and Mitigating Risk During A Complex HIS Conversion
A six-facility health system partnered with Huron to prepare for and manage a complex HIS conversion
Challenge
Building on a previous Huron Revenue Cycle engagement that delivered $80 million in benefit, a prestigious East Coast health system needed to prepare for a complex Health Information System (HIS) conversion spanning six facilities. The client sought an experienced partner to plan and manage the conversion, while ensuring ongoing revenue cycle stability and strong operational performance.
Approach
Huron worked closely with the client and HIS provider to design, manage, and operationalize the HIS conversion. Huron’s in-depth planning and functional and technical support helped mitigate risk and manage the change processes—ensuring strong revenue cycle operations with minimal disruption through and after the go-live period.
Supporting best practices: The implementation of Huron’s revenue cycle tools provided a single workdriver and reporting source across four existing systems. The new HIS, paired with Huron’s software and reporting, supported consistency throughout the conversion. Huron also ensured the new system would support the best practices and tools implemented during the previous revenue cycle engagement.
Ensuring stability and accountability: Huron created a detailed roadmap for monitoring and achieving metric stabilization. Consolidated reporting across both the new and legacy HIS enabled leadership to monitor metrics, staff performance, and risks during the critical stabilization period. As a result, patient access metrics stabilized within six to twelve weeks of go-live, versus the three to six months typically associated with HIS conversion.
Delivering hands on support: Key to the project’s success was Huron’s ability to minimize disruption during this large technological change. Significant hands-on functional and technical assistance during planning, testing, and implementation of the new HIS helped the client maintain peak revenue cycle performance. Huron wrote system specifications, validated and tested files and workflow, and managed communication with the HIS provider and the client’s information technology team.
Enhancing the patient experience: Huron streamlined patient statement and follow up practices through design and staffing recommendations focused on a new Single Billing Office (SBO). Flexible SBO reporting empowered the client to monitor unit success and effectiveness—driving ongoing excellence and patient satisfaction.