An agreement for Cerner ITWorks to take over Medical Center Health System’s Information Technology department was recently approved that officials say will help the entire organization.
The health system has struggled with the transition to Cerner’s electronic medical record-keeping system, seeing issues with system stabilization, handling of the revenue cycle, workarounds that caused errors and reporting issues.
The project, budgeted at $55 million, was required to meet federal regulations with record keeping.
Both the previous and current Chief Financial officer previously told the Odessa American the required implementation was partially to blame, paired with a failing local economy, for downgrades in the hospital’s bond rating.
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The partnership with Cerner ITWorks is expected to help MCHS manage Cerner Millennium, the health care IT platform that provides doctors and nurses with a digital record that brings together a person’s health information for an up-to-date view of their well-being, an MCHS news release stated.
MCHS President and CEO Rick Napper compared the implementation to a snake that ate a watermelon. There is a big watermelon passing through, but he said problems will fade as people get better with the system.
He said having Cerner take over IT will provide a barrier for those who are still doing things the way they would with the old McKesson system. The health system also originally made a number of decisions not to utilize pieces of the Cerner project, which created barriers to the implementation.
“By going with Cerner, we removed those barriers because they now have accountability for those pieces that we didn’t give them accountability for before,” Napper said.
MCHS previously contracted companies to help with coding and billing issues after their accounts receivable started taking massive hits, but CFO Robert Abernethy said this particular partnership has nothing to do with those issues, as collection efforts and follow ups on older accounts is done through the business office, not the IT department.
Asked if Cerner taking over the IT department is similar to contracting companies to help with coding and billing, Napper said it’s a much stronger partnership than the consultation engagements they’ve had.
Roughly 45 employees in the IT department will be offered a job with Cerner ITWorks.
“Probably the hardest part of the entire decision was to make sure that this was done in a fair and just way for each and every employee. They’ve worked very hard, they’ve been very dedicated to us, we’re very committed to them and we wanted to make sure … every employee that leaves here tonight will have a job offer that they will be able to accept so there’s no employee being displaced with this,” Napper said after the board’s approval of the agreement Thursday.
Cerner will bring in on-site leadership that will live in and be part of the community, Napper said. The company will manage the health system’s entire IT function, managing day-to-day operations and staff as part of the 10-year agreement.
Napper said there were a number of reasons behind the decision. The health system sometimes has a hard time attracting people because there’s not a lot of room for career growth with only one Chief Information Officer.
“Cerner has opportunities all across the nation so younger people that come in can spend four or five years with us, they can move to another location, they can move up in the Cerner organization. So they have much more opportunity for advancement there,” Napper said.
MCHS Chief Financial Officer Robert Abernethy said the IT department has been short-staffed and they’ve been trying to recruit people to give them additional assistance, but said “it’s like we’re putting out fires.”
“Our folks are being worked to death,” Abernethy said.
Napper said there are also a lot of tenured people in the department and once they move on, MCHS would’ve been tasked with filling those voids. The decision to partner with Cerner, he said, isn’t just one looking at the next 12 months — it’s one looking at the next five to 10 years.
“Say one of those 46 people passed away, it would take us a year to fill that,” Napper said, adding that Cerner could call someone and bring someone in within days.
“If what’s happening in the oilfields, at least what I’ve been told, continues to happen, the placement of people’s going to be very difficult,” he added.
The company, which has similar agreements with about 34 other hospitals, also has negotiating power with vendors and can get MCHS less expensive rates on equipment and other things. Abernethy said they expect to see a cost savings this year of roughly $400,000 due to the partnership and over the next 10 years will see roughly $8.1 million in cost savings. Napper said most of that savings is due to the power of Cerner’s contracting ability.
There are also a number of Cerner organizations within the community, including Odessa Regional Medical Center, Texas Tech and Midland Memorial, and Napper said they felt it was in their best interest, strategically, to be further aligned with Cerner.
“That’s going to bring in more centralized group of Cerner here and it may help them as well. I don’t know that for sure, but it may,” he said.
Abernethy said a hospital in Farmington, New Mexico actually just went through the same transition MCHS will soon go through.
“It’s amazing, there’s a number of organizations that have Cerner that are turning this way because it’s so hard to recruit talent,” Abernethy said.
Napper said electronic medical records is also a very specialized field when it comes to IT work, which makes it even more challenging. He said he has talked to several hospitals that have made the same transition though, and each has said it’s the best thing they’ve ever done.
“I’m very, very appreciative of what everybody in that department has done and it’s not a personal decision, but it’s more a decision in the best interest of the whole organization, but that does not reduce any of the emotion that it creates within the organization and it does not mean that anybody’s done anything wrong. It has nothing to do with that. It is purely a business decision that is filled with a lot of energized emotion,” he said.
The agreement was effective as soon it was approved by the hospital board and all IT employees who choose to join Cerner, will be Cerner employees effective Sept. 10.
The board also heard a review of the proposed Fiscal Year 2019 budget Thursday. A final proposed budget is expected to be presented during their regular meeting Sept. 6. The board will also decide on a proposed tax rate.
Board members Bryn Dodd and Richard Herrera were absent Thursday due to work commitments, Abernethy said.
Date: September 3, 2018
Source: OAonline