H*Works Partner Success Stories

H*Works has a proven track record of results from our 600+ engagements. Below are selected partner success stories; please contact us for more information.

ED Performance

A community hospital with 53,000 annual ED visits had wait times hovering at close to four hours in the ED, leading to a four percent leave-without-being-seen (LWBS) rate. H*Works partnered with the hospital to expedite the triage process, eliminate registration bottlenecks, and fast-track low-acuity patients. Wait times decreased by 80 minutes, lowering the LWBS rate to 1.9 percent.

Inpatient and Surgical Management

A 100-bed community hospital in the Southeast had seen rising length of stay (LOS) among top DRGs. Root cause analysis conducted by H*Works determined that undefined care coordination roles and a convoluted discharge planning process were at fault. H*Works partnered with the hospital to implement an organizational effectiveness strategy that clearly defined roles, responsibilities, and processes for nurses, social workers, case managers, and physicians. The hospital witnessed a 0.5-day reduction in LOS for the targeted DRGs.
A large academic medical center with dedicated orthopedic ORs was experiencing orthopedic surgeon dissatisfaction due to delays in turnover processes. H*Works partnered with the hospital to redesign the core perioperative processes, resulting in a 28 percent improvement in closure-to-incision time and a 54 percent improvement in patient-out-to-patient-in time.
A community hospital with spiking ED and inpatient volumes wanted to ensure throughput processes were in place as they planned for expansion. H*Works conducted a survey of their physicians and found that more than 60 percent of those surveyed noted having experienced trouble admitting patients to the hospital due to lack of beds. H*Works partnered with the hospital to improve the discharge processes so beds could be freed up earlier in the day. The changes yielded a four-hour improvement in discharge time.
An 850-bed hospital in the Southeast had the majority of OR cases delayed (only 38 percent started within 5 minutes). The hospital partnered with H*Works to improve on-time starts, OR utilization, and profitability by redesigning core processes and creating a shared culture of accountability with staff, surgeons, and anesthesiologists. At the end of the engagement, 52 percent of the cases started on time, and six months post-engagement improvements were still continuing, with 72 percent of cases starting on time.

Margin Enhancement

A two-hospital, 800-bed system in the Midwest was facing high costs and diminished profits. H*Works identified a potential savings of $36 million in supply, pharmacy and labor across the facilities. A global audit indicated there was little to no standardization among vendors providing goods and services across the two hospitals. H*Works worked with the hospital system to renegotiate prices on the current basket of goods to reduce supply costs per net revenue by a full percentage point at both facilities within 12 months.
A 600-bed hospital in the Southwest had an RN turnover rate of 24 percent, leading to almost $4 million in annual agency costs. H*Works worked with the hospital to transform nurse managers into chief retention officers by implementing new-hire support programs, nurse-manager performance standards, and dashboards. Turnover decreased to 8 percent and agency costs decreased by $3.5 million.

Revenue Management

An academic medical center had a 55.6 percent ratio of self-pay revenue outstanding to total self-pay revenue with a $24 million opportunity affecting the bottom line. Significant opportunity existed to shift bad debt to charity care and improve point-of-service cash collections in the ED, with 22 percent of ED patients identified as self-pay. H*Works redesigned front-end processes to increase ED POS collections by 250 percent, yielding a 12 percent increase in average monthly gross revenues.
A 300-bed hospital in the Midwest had accounts receivable days at the national average, but above best practice. The hospital partnered with H*Works to create pre-certification protocols, a new charge audit and reconciliation process, comprehensive denials management, and a hardwired ED-checkout process. The hospital identified $200,000 in missing charges each month of the engagement and witnessed a seven-day reduction in accounts receivable days.

Service Line Growth

A 100-bed rural hospital had seen growing complaints from referring physicians about the inability to schedule outpatient diagnostic imaging exams. The physician group finally decided to file a Certificate of Need (CON) to open a freestanding outpatient diagnostic imaging center. H*Works worked with the hospital to create a virtual outpatient center with a separate waiting room for patients to improve scheduling processes and provide staff training. The CON was withdrawn by demonstrating access improvements.
A community hospital in a major metropolitan area needed assistance in positioning a breast care program to maintain current market share in its primary service area and grow share in outlying areas. This hospital partnered with H*Works for a strategic assessment. H*Works determined their market wanted a one-stop shop that had diagnostic mammography, biopsy, and surgical consults all available as options within one day to reduce “sleepless nights.” H*Works formulated a detailed strategic and operational plan to develop this “one-stop shop.”

Technology Strategy

A large teaching hospital was approached by an outside company to joint venture for a freestanding diagnostic imaging center, which would offer MRI, CT, and ultrasound services. The hospital partnered with H*Works to conduct due diligence on the opportunity. H*Works and the hospital determined that an internal focus on improved service to referring physicians would retain their business, which was a better course than partnering with the outside company. H*Works worked with the hospital to decrease MRI wait times by 70 percent and improve outpatient report turnaround times by one day. These improvements led to increases in volumes even with the opening of the new freestanding center.

Workforce Management

A 280-bed pediatric hospital located in an urban area, with RN vacancy rates significantly higher than national averages (28 percent versus 11 percent), partnered with H*Works to enhance nurse recruitment. H*Works exceeded the goals of the 100-day campaign on Day 42, with 103 new staff hired. The average time-to-fill an RN position decreased by 66 days, reducing the vacancy rate from 28 percent to 10.7 percent.
A 600-bed tertiary care facility in the Midwest was battling high RN turnover along with rising volumes. H*Works initiated a Staff-Led Productivity Challenge, which solicited staff ideas to improve efficiencies. H*Works also conducted education sessions with staff and managers around performance targets, metrics, and work redesign changes. Staff-generated ideas led to over $1 million in savings across a variety of departments.