{"id":2194,"date":"2017-01-31T09:15:35","date_gmt":"2017-01-31T17:15:35","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2019-10-16T02:21:44","modified_gmt":"2019-10-16T02:21:44","slug":"how-carepoint-health-saves-time-and-lives-with-streamlined-communications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/industry\/microsoft-in-business\/customer-experience\/2017\/01\/31\/how-carepoint-health-saves-time-and-lives-with-streamlined-communications\/","title":{"rendered":"How CarePoint Health saves time with streamlined communications"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\nFocus on: Optimizing Operations, Empowering Employees<\/span><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Every day, thousands of New Jersey residents make the trip through Hudson County into Manhattan. Nancy isn\u2019t one of them\u2014she lives in Jersey City and works for CarePoint Health, a network of hospitals that operates three of the county\u2019s biggest facilities: Bayonne Medical Center, Christ Hospital, and Hoboken University Medical Center. But just because she doesn\u2019t cross the river into New York City doesn\u2019t mean she won\u2019t face the traffic.<\/p>\n

Nancy spends two to three hours commuting between CarePoint facilities every day. It\u2019s seven miles from Bayonne Medical Center to Christ Hospital. If Nancy\u2019s lucky, that means she\u2019s only in traffic for a half hour, but if she encounters new construction, or if there\u2019s an accident at Bayview Avenue and Caven Point Road, she can be twenty minutes late to a meeting she left an hour early to catch.<\/p>\n

And Nancy isn\u2019t the only one. Every administrator at CarePoint has a similar story\u2014two-hour backups, four-meeting blitzes up and down I-78, and not to mention the drastically different communication systems at each facility. But now, with Office 365 and Skype for Business, CarePoint workers like Nancy can cut back on the commutes between each facility, and spend more time supporting their doctors. This is a real story of digital transformation.<\/p>\n

\"\"Rising costs and commuter crisis<\/strong><\/span>At few points in history has healthcare been as costly and complicated as it is today. Growing premiums, evolving policies, and shrinking reimbursements mean staying at the forefront of compliance requirements, treatment options, and technology solutions becomes more and more difficult every day. Hudson County felt the tightening financial demands facing care providers across the country as they witnessed Bayonne Medical Center, Christ Hospital, and Hoboken University Medical Center forced into bankruptcy over a ten year period.<\/p>\n

CarePoint Health stepped into the gap to rebuild Hudson County\u2019s failing health care system, acquiring the three facilities and their roughly 4,000 employees to better serve the area\u2019s 674,000-plus residents, 31% of whom are seniors and children.\u00a0 To best provide for their patients, CarePoint CTO Lev Goronshteyn recognized that the care network needed to start by rebuilding the organization\u2019s infrastructure. \u201cCarePoint Health\u2019s\u00a0legacy hospitals\u00a0never had up to date infrastructure or communication platforms,\u201d Goronshteyn explains. \u201cWe had servers that had been running for twenty years. We had a phone system that had been installed in 1989.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As the CTO of CarePoint Health, Lev Goronshteyn oversees the IT infrastructure, networks, telecommunication systems, and other key applications across all three hospitals. Until recently, CarePoint hospitals\u2019 outdated telecommunication system was built on existing on-premises infrastructure. Each location operated on its own system, with completely unrelated organization methods and processes. This meant no united employee directory and drastically different experiences from campus to campus.<\/p>\n

After years of sluggish operations and communication, Goronshteyn recognized the need for change.
\nStreamlining operations with plug-and-play IT<\/strong><\/span>CarePoint\u2019s efforts saw the organization unify its network-wide IT infrastructure in the cloud. The move eliminated their on-premises servers and created an organization-wide active directory for both communication and security purposes. These tools integrate into their existing Office 365 services for instant collaboration and operate on individual plug-and-play licenses for easy scalability.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Amid the excitement around these new cloud-based tools, it was their adoption of Skype for Business that initiated the greatest cultural change.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all unified, it\u2019s not a dispersed product,\u201d Goronshteyn explains, \u201cOther products are focusing on just video conferencing or file sharing; this is a total solution for an enterprise. We didn\u2019t have to stand up on-prem servers. We didn\u2019t have to do much in order to get the solution running. We just had to use it and migrate our users toward it.\u201dSaving time and saving lives<\/strong><\/span>Until recently, care teams and administrators relied on third-party conference calling services that had become increasingly unreliable as their needs grew. The deteriorating situation forced CarePoint doctors and network leadership to join Hudson County\u2019s 169,000+ commuters to travel between locations for a variety of meetings, check-ins, and conferences daily. These simple three to four mile commutes were half-hour headaches on a good day and transformed into hour-long lock-ups with the slightest hint of traffic. It was common for many hospital executives to spend hours each day commuting across a four-mile radius.<\/p>\n

Goronshteyn explains, \u201cOur executives were always traveling between sites. Now, instead of traveling between each location, our senior leadership can save two to three hours per day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skype for Business allows hospital executives to directly message their colleagues, call in for video or voice conferencing, and share their desktop from one building to another, rather than having to travel across facilities for conferences or presentations. These communications upgrades save CarePoint\u2019s top decision makers two to three hours every day in commute time.<\/p>\n

In hindsight, the benefits appear obvious, but healthcare organizations have been slow to adopt new technologies. New initiatives like the one at CarePoint require planning and a shift in cultural mindset to succeed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it makes [doctors] run even a second slower they\u2019re always not going to like it,\u201d Goronshteyn says. \u201cThey\u2019ll say \u2018It\u2019s slowing me down, it\u2019s not helpful, and I need something faster.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Lev explains that it\u2019s by demonstrating the value of new tools like Skype for Business that organizations can implement sustainable change. \u201cIf you show [users] the right way to use these technologies and show them how this will improve their life, how this will make tasks faster, more efficient, then it\u2019s a lot easier for them to say, \u2018I want to learn this suite of products.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Driving digital transformation<\/strong><\/span>Moving forward, CarePoint Health hopes to explore new innovations including a full Cloud PBX voice transformation, a move that not only would allow them to better communicate with their coworkers and patients but would also make them one of the first healthcare providers worldwide to adopt a fully cloud-hosted communication system.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a drastic change, but a positive one,\u201d Goronshteyn says. \u201cAt the end of the day we need to improve our employees\u2019 lives, not just our executives\u2019. Doctors and nurses who then drive patient satisfaction \u2014 when you help a doctor you\u2019re really helping a patient. You give them back an hour of their day, that equates to another hour they can give to a patient.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019re happy to join CarePoint Health in their mission to make Hudson County a healthier place.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Related Content<\/span><\/p>\n