Driving innovation: The comprehensive transformation of a mission-critical platform

Prospect Medical Holdings is a primary healthcare provider based in Los Angeles, California. It operates 16 hospitals across five states, with 11,000 physicians and 18,000 other employees. Prospect Medical Holdings' facilities help provide quality patient care through an integrated network of hospitals, clinics, and primary and specialty physicians.

A complex transformation

Our partnership with nationwide-based Prospect Medical Holdings involved a complex transformation of a key element of its care-critical IT infrastructure.

In terms of technical complexity, Techio team had to:

• Perform a detailed analysis of the customer's technology footprint to identify suboptimal and redundant parts of its input/output device infrastructure.
• Implement an optimized plan to consolidate and streamline all systems.
• Provide continuous on-site, time-critical support in a demanding medical setting.
  

The challenge: A fragmented environment

Healthcare today depends on technology as much as the expertise of healthcare professionals.

Prospect Medical Holdings, like many other healthcare providers, faced a challenge in managing their input/output device infrastructure, which includes complex diagnostic systems, electronic medical record platforms, and other critical systems for delivering reliable patient care. These devices and their critical support are often procured outside standard procedures from multiple providers, with different capabilities, at different costs, and with different terms and SLAs.

As a result, our client had a fragmented landscape with complex and expensive support needs, slow service ticket response, increased costs and waste, and, most importantly, reduced care standards and enhanced medical risks and liabilities.

The solution: Streamlined technology support and procurement for healthcare providers

Swift, efficient, and effective support was imperative.


Prospect Medical Holdings partnered with Techio to understand how its hospitals and clinics used these devices and to find efficiency savings to reduce its cost base while maintaining standards of patient care.

Techio team applied its tried-and-tested 3-step approach to help meet the project’s objectives.

Step 1: Perform a current state analysis

Techio’s first step was to review how input/output devices were used in a medical setting across the sites selected for the pilot project. This involved reviewing contracts and procurement orders, asset management tools, and even just walking around the hospitals and consulting with end-users to see what devices were used and by which teams and departments.
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The next step was to confirm which team, department, or function was responsible for these devices and to clarify the commercial terms and costs involved. A critical factor was understanding who supported these devices and on what basis, how they interfaced with the key EMR platform, and how secure they were. A comprehensive contract review highlighted which devices were fully supported and which contracts were inactive but still incurring costs, for example. It also involved a review of the various terms and conditions providers had signed up for, as well as identifying if and how well critical onsite support services were delivered, especially where devices needed 24/7 support.

Step 2: Streamlining the environment

Our next step was to apply these insights to design and build the ideal business model that would enable Prospect Medical Holdings to have the input/output device infrastructure it needed on a cost basis it could justify.
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There is a significant cost to any organization managing complex technology infrastructure. The current state analysis highlighted that 17 vendors provided various elements of hardware, software, and services to medical teams and departments. We used our extensive industry experience and relationships with vendors to consolidate the number from 17 to only 2 without impacting the quality of service offered to staff and patients.
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This approach has helped our Techio team develop and implement a standard build and specification for these devices across the health system, helping to reduce further procurement and support costs by taking advantage of the scale its business offers to potential suppliers.

Step 3: Implement enhanced support

Input/output devices used in critical medical environments need significant levels of support since even one printer going offline for 30 minutes at 1 a.m. in an emergency room can have severe implications for patients and hospitals.
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To bridge this capability gap, Techio provides Prospect Medical Holdings with an enhanced support package, allowing it to have trained and vetted staff permanently located on many sites on a 24/7 basis if necessary. The ‘boots on the ground’ model means we can quickly address issues within minutes and hours, not days, helping to provide a user-focused service. Our support specialists know their workplace, their medical team, and the technology they need to support.

The value: Optimized systems, reduced costs

Techio has helped Prospect Medical Holdings to take and maintain control of a critical element of its medical technology infrastructure by streamlining its management processes and cost base. So far, the savings have been significant; monthly fixed cost commitments are now 75% lower, and almost $2 million of debt has been removed from the balance sheet. This optimized environment allows it to deliver better services to its patients and to support its employees when they need it most.

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