LAS VEGAS, Nov. 6, 2007 — Aligning productivity, patient care, and labor to achieve operational efficiencies is a top priority for healthcare executives today. Kronos® Incorporated recognizes that there are several critical business challenges that need to be resolved to achieve this. At KronosWorks™, the industry's largest venue for exchanging ideas on how to effectively manage the workforce, more than 500 healthcare executives and managers will unite to explore how rising labor costs and increase in demand — coupled with the current state of the labor shortage — can be combated through a sound framework for effectively managing the workforce.
Healthcare has been plagued by negative productivity. Without positive changes in productivity, healthcare organizations require more resources to produce the same level of service. With labor accounting for the largest portion of operating costs in hospitals, increasing productivity and operational efficiency is critical to managing the cost of healthcare delivery. A growing number of healthcare organizations are paying close attention to solving this overarching industry problem by taking a closer look at specific critical business issues that can be solved by efficient labor management:
As a reflection of the focus on increasing productivity and operational efficiency, achieving the "Magnet" status — awarded by the American Nurses' Credentialing Center to hospitals that satisfy a set of criteria designed to measure excellence in the delivery of nursing services to patients — has grown in relevance over the last few years. The "Magnet" status ensures an organization's commitment to creating a superior environment for recruiting and retaining nurses, and this continues to have a dramatic impact on a healthcare organization's ability to meet financial and quality care goals.
Currently, 40 percent of "Magnet" facilities are Kronos customers. Multiple Kronos customers, including the All Children's Hospital and Hartford Hospital, will share perspectives on their "Magnet" journeys during a KronosWorks panel, where they will discuss the role that workforce management plays in earning this status.
"Speaking from experience, we know that significant operational efficiencies can be achieved by effectively managing our largest controllable expense and greatest asset — our employees — to support the delivery of high-quality patient care," said Sue Willoughby, RN, BSN and consultant, Saint Thomas Hospital. "Kronos' labor productivity solution is helping us overcome challenges pertaining to labor costs, the labor shortage, and increasing demand. As a result, we are poised to better align our labor costs with quality care."
"We are hearing one resounding message from our customers today, which is the need to align labor, productivity, and patient care," said Brian Graves, global practice leader of healthcare at Kronos. "Healthcare organizations are increasingly looking to optimize workforce productivity to balance quality care and labor costs. They're turning to Kronos for the support they need in striking this balance."
Kronos Incorporated empowers organizations around the world to effectively manage their workforce. At Kronos, we are experts who are solely focused on delivering software and services that enable organizations to reduce costs, increase productivity, improve employee satisfaction, and ultimately enhance the level of service they provide. Kronos serves customers in more than 60 countries through its network of offices, subsidiaries, and distributors. Widely recognized as a market and thought leader in managing the workforce, Kronos has unrivaled reach with more than 30 million people using a Kronos solution every day. Learn more about Kronos at www.kronos.com.