QuadraMed Corporation (Reston, Va.) has announced that its AcuityPlus nurse-staffing management program has helped the Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) in Gainesville, Ga., improve nursing productivity goals by approximately 60 percent, generating a return on investment of $901,000 in the first year after introducing the project.
Before the 557-bed health system adopted AcuityPlus for nurse-staffing management, the organization was using the solution to classify patients by the severity of their illness. When NGHS moved from a decentralized to a centralized mode of staffing, it enabled AcuityPlus to pinpoint opportunities for changes in nurse-staffing parameters and the patient-assignment process to best utilize available resources. NGHS officials report that nursing overtime dropped 8.5 percent the first year, and open shift incentive pay fell 48 percent. Contract labor expense also declined by 74 percent.
The ROI in the first year included $659,000 in reduced overtime and contract work, plus an additional $241,000 of savings in incentive pay. The next year, the health system saved $847,000. During this period, the average salary expense remained constant.
Northeast Georgia Health System is a not-for-profit community health system dedicated to improving the health and quality of life of the people of Northeast Georgia. Led by volunteer boards made up of community leaders, the health system, which includes 557 inpatient beds, and 261 skilled nursing beds, serves almost 700,000 people in more than 13 counties across Northeast Georgia.
