Glencoe Regional Health Services (GRHS) has been providing quality healthcare to the community of Glencoe MN since 1941. Quality, convenience and personal care were the principals of their early organization, as they are for the people that work there today.

 

GRHS stays on top of the latest research and care practices. At GRHS, you will find quality in their medical expertise, convenience in their services and specialties, and personal care behind every contact with their staff.

 

Healthcare organizations are facing increasing pressures to perform better for their patients. Government and industry regulations are at the center of many discussions and competition from other providers continues to increase. Today many healthcare organizations look to technology for relief from these pressures. Many organizations, including GRHS, are faced with increasing demands to provide further investments in strategic medical applications, information technology infrastructure, and organizational management, which also puts a strain on budgets and staff.

 

GRHS was in the process of updating several strategic applications allowing them to continue providing exceptional healthcare. They were updating radiology technology to support better imaging and remote viewing by medical specialists. The Obstetrics department wanted to provide better fetal and mother care throughout the pregnancy, especially supporting premature births. They were also reviewing advanced technology to diagnose potential stroke victims.

 

The maintenance of the current IT environment required ongoing investment and upgrades. The many services of GRHS were creating loads on hardware that caused administrative systems to slow considerably. Several business software applications like messaging and remote access were coming up for licensing renewal and increased data size and traffic was forcing infrastructure updates. There were also organizational challenges with staff turnover and department reorganization. GRHS needed assistance with staff management, vendor negotiation, and execution of many projects.

 

Michael Sprandel, GRHS Network Administrator, said, “We contracted with Solbrekk in 2006 to conduct a comprehensive IT assessment. The assessment included operating systems, organizational development, infrastructure, and IT process. The objectives of the engagement were to provide an overview of information services and information technology, review present IT service practices, establish a preliminary strategic vision, and align tactical activities with that vision.”

 

GRHS’ primary business application operates on two RS6000 servers that run financial, scheduling, and reporting on the IBM operating system and database. The server running the application portion of the configuration was consistently running at 100% utilization. This caused slow response times, processing delays, and system restarts. The first bid to replace the hardware and software was $168,000. After the bid was analyzed and the market was researched, Tom Waknitz assisted GRHS management with negotiations that solved the performance issues and reduced the cost to $50,000, resulting in a savings of more than $118,000.

 

Medical, technical, and business staff at GRHS was working with several local and national organizations to implement four strategic applications. There were several contacts within GRHS running each of these installations. Many of the challenges being faced required a consistent interface from technical services at GRHS. However, because of staff and organizational changes this interface was not present. Tom Waknitz from Solbrekk was able to quickly collect data from all four projects and establish a plan for implementation. He worked directly with the various local and national organizations, GRHS service providers, and GRHS management to implement all four applications on time and under budget.

 

Solbrekk also reviewed the present information services and technology practices. By working closely with GRHS management we were able to establish a preliminary strategic vision and align tactical activities with that vision. Utilizing the final report we were able to map out a tactical plan to stabilize the environment and build a strategic vision for the future. The assessment was essential in getting GRHS going in the right direction and helped their senior management envision what needed to be done to accomplish the business and technical goals to meet their strategic direction.

 

The team of Tom Waknitz and other Solbrekk and GRHS staff completed several key initiatives within a six month time frame. The first major win was in updating the line of business application. This effort increased performance and saved the organization more than $118,000. The team implemented four strategic applications in less than six months. Presented and approved by senior management this vision is providing a catalyst for system updates that include enhanced messaging and communications tools.

 

Michael Sprandel stated, “Utilizing the final report from Solbrekk we were able to map out a tactical plan to stabilize our environment and build a strategic vision for the future. The assessment was essential in getting us going in the right direction. It has helped us to know where to start. It has helped Sr. Management envision what needed to be done to accomplish the business goals and come to an agreement as to the direction we are going.”