Key terms: healthcare, print services, strategic partnership,
Xerox, Methodist Healthcare System
It’s
hard to find an industry today under more pressure than healthcare. Between
complying with the Affordable Care Act and battling shrinking reimbursements,
hospitals and other medical providers have had to redouble efforts to rein in
costs and protect revenue streams. But this can be a daunting assignment when
hospitals also need to protect the most critical part of their balance sheet:
delivering exceptional patient care.
In
South Texas, one hospital system has seen success in balancing these priorities
by forging smart partnerships that boost operating efficiencies and allow more
resources to be channeled into patient care. “When we think about patients, we think about
how we can save money so we can take those dollars and put them into clinical
care,” says Geoffrey Crabtree, senior vice president at Methodist Hospital
System, the largest provide of health services in San Antonio and the nation’s
fifth largest healthcare system. “We’ve got to find new and innovative ways of
cutting down our ancillary costs”
One
of the best ways Methodist found it could save money was to team with Xerox to consolidate
and modernize its vast printing operations. A few years ago, the partners
created an ultra-efficient centralized print center that designs and produces
everything from compliance forms to patient-educational brochures faster than
before – and at less cost. The Xerox-managed center bolstered efficiencies with
an on-demand printing model that cut inventory to zero, and by rolling out a simple-to-use
online job-submission process that saved hours of labor a week. The center also
opened its doors to serve outside businesses, helping pull in extra revenue to
pay for operations.
In our recent study [http://www.slideshare.net/MainstayCompany/xerox-methodist-final],
Mainstay put hard numbers behind these benefits, projecting Methodist’s
partnership with Xerox would generate $1.2 million dollars in net benefits in
2014, in large part through avoiding costly charges from less-efficient,
outside print vendors. We also documented other valuable benefits achieved
through smart process improvements. These included achieving 100% compliance
with branding, legal, and compliance requirements; massively reducing paper
waste; improving staffing flexibility; and consistently hitting strict job-turnaround
targets.
In our view,
Methodist’s decision to work with a best-in-breed partner like Xerox clearly
paid off – not only by driving cost savings and better customer service, but
also by enabling the healthcare system to sharpen its focus on what matters
most: patient care.
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