CHARLOTTE, N.C. (January 7, 2010) – Haywood Regional Medical Center, a rural facility, licensed for 189-beds in Clyde, N.C., achieved savings of $3.62 million in labor costs in six months with the Premier healthcare alliance through the use of LaborConnect™, Premier’s labor management solution.
“The key to our success was the engagement of leadership and department heads from day one to customize a unique program based on our needs,” said Mike Poore, who recently became CEO at MedWest Health System, an affiliation of Haywood Regional; Harris Regional Hospital of Sylva, N.C.; and Swain County Hospital of Bryson City, N.C. “This helped build trust in our processes that had been lacking because of their recent experiences. The partnership that resulted gave us the structure, accountability and confidence to implement a successful labor expense reduction program.”
As a part of LaborConnect, Haywood Regional utilizes OperationsAdvisor® (OA), Premier’s Web-based labor management solution that integrates productivity and benchmarking with comparative data analysis; and a Performance Partner, who works with leadership and managers on-site to improve operational performance and productivity.
Strong support from leadership led Haywood Regional to reduce its FTEs by 85 in part through volume-based flex staffing. In addition, the Performance Partner significantly aided in the return on investment of 74 to 1.
“We are very pleased with the Premier Performance Partner’s work in helping us establish a comprehensive labor management program from scratch,” said Poore.
The Performance Partner worked with managers to build the labor management program from the ground up and introduced them to concepts such as flexing staffing to volumes and other management techniques.
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