Lexington Health Care sought to improve quality of care while decreasing labor costs in all 10 of its facilities in the Chicago area. OnShift enabled the company to reduce overtime by 71% in less than 60 days.
Cleveland, OH, June 30, 2010 — OnShift, developers of nurse scheduling and employee communication software, recently announced it had been selected by Lexington Health Care for an enterprise-wide deployment of the OnShift system.
Lexington Health Care owns 10 skilled nursing facilities in the greater Chicago area, and its service lines include long term care, subacute and rehabilitation services, as well as memory care services, which caters to those with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia-related diseases. The facilities rehabilitated over 4,000 patients in 2009, and manage over 2,000 beds at any given time.
Lexington’s highest priority since its inception has been to provide quality patient care. The company faced two major challenges to this priority: Overtime utilization has historically been extremely high yet many of the NHPPD ratios were lower in some facilities than they wanted. Lexington Health Care CEO Dale Zaletel identified labor cost management as the strategic priority for 2010.
Lexington Health Care researched several scheduling options and services. After a thorough review, OnShift was selected for its ease of use, the SaaS software model, and the willingness of the OnShift team to partner with them, from implementation and training to ongoing support. As with all skilled nursing facilities, the primary focus for the staff at Lexington Health Care is patient care, not having to spend an inordinate amount of time learning software. Lexington staff members agreed OnShift is so simple to learn and use, and supported the company’s philosophy that staff members should be caring for patients, not sitting behind a desk. Further, the SaaS (Software as a Service) model eliminates large up front costs that make scheduling software inaccessible to budget-conscious facilities. OnShift’s commitment of providing its “always available” support gave Lexington Health Care leadership further assurance they made the right choice.
“In my entire career I have never seen a system have such a significant operational impact in such a short amount of time,” stated Zaletel. “We dramatically decreased overtime by 71% and did so without sacrificing quality of care. In fact, our quality of care has improved because we are able to more closely monitor adherence to our HPPD standards.”
Zaletel added, “Before OnShift, we were going to setup an internal PRN pool to cover shortages, sort of our own in-house staffing agency. We found by using OnShift we didn’t need to do it. Our buildings are now staffed appropriately, and the ability to communicate open shifts to all available and qualified personnel in an instant, means we get the shifts filled by our own staff. They’re happy, and a happy staff provides great care.”
OnShift implemented all 10 facilities over a six-week period, starting in mid December 2009. All facilities were live by the end of January. In less than 60 days of live operation, Lexington Health Care had reduced overtime substantially by 71%. Lexington Health Care’s target for overtime for 2010 was 3.5% of total hours worked, and they continue to report numbers well below that, averaging below 1.5% for most of their facilities.
“We’re honored to partner with an organization as well-respected as Lexington Health Care,” said OnShift CEO Mark Woodka. “We take great pride in offering a scheduling and communication solution that empowers our clients to better care for patients, and cut costs in the process. We’re so glad the Lexington Health Care team is off to a strong start.”
Long term care facilities and hospitals can request a free, no-obligation demo of the software at www.OnShift.com. The company emphasizes that OnShift software is scalable, so it works as just as well for a large hospital system as it does for a single long term care facility.
About OnShift
OnShift is a Cleveland, Ohio-based developer of online scheduling and employee communication software specifically designed for the long term care industry. OnShift delivers the first labor cost management solution that combines advanced communication technologies and a scheduling application to automate the resolution of staffing emergencies and control overtime. OnShift software is user-friendly, intuitive, and optimizes productivity in fast-paced environments.
About Lexington Health Care
Since 1984, Lexington Health Care has created a dynamic and comprehensive health care system that has grown to include 10 nursing facilities, two Independent Life Care Centers, and a home health care and hospice agency, all in the greater Chicago area. This rapid growth is attributed to the family’s desire to expand a developed template for superior health and senior care — a family business caring for families in need. Lexington Health Care is dedicated and committed to providing the most compassionate, high-quality, individualized service possible for those needing rehabilitation or long-term care.
