One organization's experience with clinical and financial system integration

Winona Health, a locally owned and operated nonprofit organization in Winona, Minn., had an outdated and cumbersome technology infrastructure, which hampered its ability to serve its community. With more than 900 employees at Winona Health and its affiliates, Winona's financial and billing systems couldn't keep up with the firm's growth or increasingly complex reporting and tracking requirements. Of particular importance was automating Winona Health's human resources and payroll processes-employee hours were being logged manually, making the maintenance of labor law requirements for overtime, weekends and holidays time-intensive.

TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

ePartners, a Microsoft consultancy, was chosen by Winona Health and installed Microsoft Dynamics for core accounting and financial tasks, human resources and payroll functions, as well as for fixed assets, capital project tracking and inter-company communications. FRX Reporting, Bank Reconciliation and MICR also were added as part of the implementation.

"The integration developed by ePartners between our clinical and financial systems has streamlined data capture at Winona Health," says Michael Allen, chief financial officer at Winona Health. "Now, patient information flows automatically from 'point of care' all the way through to the general ledger. We're proud of the fact that with state-of-the-art financial, human resources and clinical systems, we unquestionably have one of the most advanced solutions available for community hospitals."

Winona Health's installation of Microsoft Dynamics human resources and payroll applications helped to meet stringent reporting and tracking requirements and streamlined many processes, including tracking complex PTO (paid time off) rules and benefit tracking.

The Winona team was heavily involved in the implementation, working in concert with the consultancy.

"Our team from ePartners worked closely with us to make sure our implementation went as smoothly as possible and has met or exceeded my expectations every step of the way," says Rod Hughbanks, director of information systems for Winona Health. "ePartners' attention to detail, product expertise and experience in the community hospital space made all the difference."

Mark Tumblin is director of healthcare for ePartners, a Microsoft consultancy with 23 offices in North America and Great Britain.