Multi-Facility Health System, Mississippi, 2013 – First introduced in 2013 by the System CEO, who was a previous “graduate” of the OPTIX Reporting System and Capitol’s approach. The CEO’s goal was to bring in Capitol Consulting again to implement OPTIX and coach the management team to proactively manage to eliminate a budget shortfall. Historically, the health system used a “home grown” approach that suited their needs to address productivity, however, there was a disconnect between their productivity and the bottom line. There was stagnation in performance and FTEs grew as inpatient volumes and Emergency Room visits softened. The productivity management system and philosophy were consistent with the industry at the time, where the goal was to simply manage worked hours and not the effect of raising expenses. There was a gap and a definite need to look at cost. In addition to their performance results, there were no effective tools to help the front-line managers manage proactively. The health system had many instances of staffing variances, agency usage, excessive contingent/ part-time employees and eventually high turnover. This was often combatted with high flexing, pay cuts, wage stagnation, and even layoffs.
As the OPTIX Reporting system and Capitol’s approach were implemented, a new and modern means to proactively manage labor expense was ingrained, as the entire system worked towards a common mission of continuous improvement and a stewardship of resources. A new budgeting process was executed so gains were locked in and improvement experienced every year, all with agreement from the management team and leaders. The approach spread to the Children’s Hospital, Physician Practices and Regional Office – resulting in a Labor Expense per Adjusted Discharge of over $45M (even after merit and market adjustments) and a 300 FTE improvement without layoffs, but rather through enhanced management and expense controls using the OPTIX Reporting System.