Mercy chooses Smart Square as its staff scheduling tool
Mercy, the eighth-largest Catholic health care system in the U.S., has launched Avantas's Smart Square scheduling software at 16 of its 30 hospitals in a four-state region including Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Avantas, an Omaha, Neb.-based company that provides best-practice work strategies for the health care industry, signed an agreement last year to provide its comprehensive staffing and scheduling tool to Mercy. Smart Square is being phased in at all hospitals across Mercy, with inpatient nursing units being the focus of Phase I.
Designed specifically for the health care industry, Smart Square is a comprehensive scheduling tool. It allows organizations to efficiently schedule core staff and proactively manage contingency staff to meet patient needs. Intuitive and flexible, Smart Square is an equally effective tool in both nursing and non-nursing departments. For those hospitals currently live, co-workers value having easy Web access to their schedule and the user friendliness of the tool.
"The current state of health care requires organizations to be innovative in order to thrive, and a strategic approach to effective scheduling presents a unique opportunity to realize quality improvements and cost savings across an enterprise," said Chris Fox, senior vice president of growth and innovation at Avantas. "Mercy understands this well, and we're excited that they chose Smart Square to align their resources with patient needs and help provide the exceptional care for which they are known."
The fully Web-hosted application will enable Mercy to leverage the economies of scale provided by its regional hospitals and strategically staff nursing units for emerging patient need across multiple locations. It also will result in nursing leaders spending more time with patients and less time staffing their units.
"Creating a quality care environment and optimizing nursing resources are top priorities for Mercy. Integrating Avantas's scheduling and staffing software with other relevant information systems will help us accomplish those objectives," said Jolene Goedken, senior vice president and chief nursing officer for Mercy. "Avantas is much more than a technology company. Its strategic support and advice were vital to our successful software integration process. I am confident that Smart Square is the right tool for our needs, and Avantas is the right partner for Mercy."
About Mercy
Mercy is the eighth- largest Catholic health care system in the U.S. and serves more than 3 million people annually. Mercy includes 30 hospitals, more than 200 outpatient facilities, 38,000 co-workers and 1,500 integrated physicians in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Mercy also has outreach ministries in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. For more about Mercy, visit www.mercy.net.
About Avantas
Avantas (www.avantas.biz) is an Omaha, Neb.-based company devoted to serving the healthcare industry. By combining advanced technology with evidence-based methodologies, Avantas delivers immediate ROI and long-term savings by helping healthcare organizations realize continual improvement with regard to healthcare scheduling and staffing.
