National Health System Completes Lawson Supply Chain Management Rollout
Lawson’s largest single-day simultaneous healthcare supply chain implementation will help Sisters of Mercy Health System reduce supply costs, simplify purchasing processes
ST. PAUL, Minn. (May 24, 2007) – Sisters of Mercy Health System (Mercy) recently completed its largest-ever technology implementation, when 3,600 users representing 19 hospitals and numerous outpatient facilities went live on the Lawson Supply Chain Management suite from Lawson Software (Nasdaq:LWSN), replacing the organization’s previous application from McKesson.
This supply chain implementation is also the largest-ever for Lawson and is part of a larger Lawson project that is scheduled for completion by January 2008. Mercy previously implemented the Lawson Enterprise Financial Management suite and is now completing the conversion of all its facilities to the Lawson Human Capital Management suite. Ultimately, the unified Lawson system will help Mercy staff focus resources on patient care by supporting standardized business processes and enhancing staff productivity.
Sisters of Mercy Health System operates hospitals, physician practices, outpatient clinics, health plans, and other health and human services across Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. Based in St. Louis, Mercy is the ninth-largest Catholic health care system in the United States.
“Previously many of our business processes were decentralized and therefore duplicative across the organization. We wanted a business system that would fit with our vision of becoming a more cohesive, integrated health network,” said Jayson Chitwood, executive director of financial applications for Sisters of Mercy Health System’s information services division. “Lawson’s expertise and commitment to healthcare fit well with the system-wide transformation we sought. Lawson offers the integration, standardization and features we need to achieve this goal while providing flexibility to meet the distinct and separate needs of individual Mercy facilities.”
The Lawson Supply Chain Management implementation is part of Mercy’s internal Genesis Project initiative, which includes efforts to enhance work processes and information systems across the geographically dispersed organization. To support the project, Mercy created a cross-departmental implementation team that included staff members with a deep understanding of the organization’s complex needs and technical resources from Mercy’s IT department. Mercy also hired external consultants and systems integrators with system-specific experience and technical knowledge to supplement its internal project team, including Lawson Professional Services, as well as consultants with product, business and Mercy-specific knowledge. The combined project team then used e-learning tools, workshops and surveys to gather insight from key stakeholders and end users to help guide project development and implementation.
Mercy also created a communications group within the project implementation team to keep co-workers updated on the project’s progress and to help promote management and end user buy-in. This communications group has published project news and updates throughout all of the application rollouts to maintain transparency organization-wide on topics such as system testing plans and change-management processes.
Because Mercy operates its own warehouse and distribution center and handles most of its materials management processes in-house, it sought to implement the Lawson application with minimal process disruptions. As a result, Mercy conducted the supply chain implementation across all of its facilities simultaneously. Due to the project team’s comprehensive planning, the rollout occurred smoothly and with no surgery rescheduling, supply stockpiling or late deliveries.
Today, the Lawson supply chain system supports better integration with Mercy’s financial processes by standardizing supply chain workflows and streamlining approvals, including requisition and invoice processing. The consolidated Lawson system helps reduce time spent searching for critical information and streamlines the transfer of data between different departments and sites. In addition to enabling more accurate purchase tracking and a shorter invoice approval cycle, the Lawson system is helping Mercy reduce overall supply costs by tracking data needed to take advantage of volume discounts.
Currently, Mercy is replacing its disparate human resources systems with Lawson applications to complete the unified Lawson system. This will provide a single platform from which Mercy can gain greater visibility into organization-wide financial, HR and supply data. And, this comprehensive view will help Mercy further enhance decision making, eliminate process redundancies and reduce operational costs. For example, improved access to more accurate HR data will help Mercy streamline compliance with requirements mandated by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).
“In today’s competitive healthcare environment, controlling operating costs across multiple facilities and geographies requires business process standardization and workflow automation,” said Sara Van Kempen, healthcare marketing director, Lawson Software. “Our industry-leading software and services simplify healthcare administration so hospitals and health systems can focus on their mission of serving patients.”
Lawson serves more than 500 healthcare industry customers representing more than 4,500 facilities, including eight of the top 10 integrated delivery networks. The company also serves managed care systems, academic medical centers, hospitals, clinics, physician group practices, home healthcare, long-term care and other health services enterprises. Lawson solutions help healthcare organizations manage their business so they can focus on their patients, automate and streamline materials management for a better bottom line, and overcome the challenges of the labor shortage.
Source: Lawson
