CHRISTUS Health saves $12 million by standardizing 25,000 employees on

CHRISTUS Health saves $12 million by standardizing 25,000 employees on Kronos

    Business Editors/Technology Editors

    DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 14, 2005--

Upgrades to latest version of workforce management solutions to support "Journey to Excellence" initiative
    While traveling on its "Journey to Excellence", CHRISTUS Health, one of the largest Catholic health systems in the county, is upgrading to the latest version of the Workforce Central(R) suite from Kronos(R) Incorporated (Nasdaq: KRON). CHRISTUS experienced a $12 million return on investment from successfully implementing a previous version of Workforce Central and trusts the latest version will continue to drive efficiency throughout the organization.
    "Our 'Journey to Excellence' initiative ensures employees focus on the goals of clinical and service quality while providing community value and maintaining business literacy. Kronos solutions easily support this initiative by helping CHRISTUS balance quality patient care and labor costs," said Dan Weaver, director business systems, information management, CHRISTUS Health. "Based on past experiences, we know Kronos will be instrumental in helping us reach those goals."

    A strong foundation for the future

    CHRISTUS was formed in 1999 when the former Sisters of Charity Health Care System and Incarnate Word Health System combined. Integrating these organizations was a challenge because both had a variety of disparate systems. CHRISTUS realized it needed to standardize those systems as it traveled on its "Journey to Excellence". The healthcare organization's Finance Council approved Kronos as the vendor of choice to provide an enterprise-wide time and labor and productivity system.
    "Before we implemented Kronos, everything was done manually and employees were overwhelmed with spreadsheets that were time-consuming and error prone. We needed a systematic method of tracking productivity and labor costs," said Kim Trahan, senior project manager, CHRISTUS Health. "Workforce Central exceeds our expectations. The solution allows us to control overtime, contract and supplemental personnel, and allows us to optimize our workforce so we can continue to provide superior patient care."
    CHRISTUS achieved millions of dollars in net cost savings in one year as a result of centralizing labor tracking and efficiency. The new solution consolidated 13 different time and labor systems into one, reducing payroll processing time to less than one day.
    Previously, the organization's labor productivity was being analyzed sporadically and with less-than-sophisticated tools. The goal was to focus on productivity while balancing quality care with labor costs. To achieve this objective, CHRISTUS implemented Kronos' Visionware(R) labor analytics solution. This solution provides the health system with an enterprise productivity dashboard, which enabled CHRISTUS to control the rising costs of supplemental agency workers and employee overtime.

    The future is bright

    "CHRISTUS is creating a model for other healthcare organizations to adopt. At a time when numerous healthcare organizations are struggling to improve productivity and control labor costs, CHRISTUS has solved the issue successfully," said Dave Roth, director of industry marketing at Kronos. "The 'Journey to Excellence' initiative demonstrates CHRISTUS' leadership position in the healthcare industry. By supporting them in this initiative, we are supporting best practices in healthcare."
    CHRISTUS uses Kronos' time and labor and analytics solutions. Kronos made this announcement from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2005 Annual Conference and Exhibition being held Feb. 13-17 in Dallas. Kronos is exhibiting in booth #2722.

    About CHRISTUS Health

    CHRISTUS Health is a faith-based, not-for-profit health care system comprised of over 40 hospitals and long-term care facilities, as well as dozens of other health services in more than 70 communities in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Utah, as well as Monterrey and Saltillo, Mexico. CHRISTUS is headquartered in the Greater Dallas Metropolitan Area, with additional offices operating in both San Antonio and Houston to support the health system operations, which includes approximately 25,000 employees.

    About Kronos Incorporated

    Kronos Incorporated is the most trusted name in workforce management. Kronos helps organizations staff, develop, deploy, track, and reward their workforce, resulting in reduced costs, increased productivity, better decision-making, improved employee satisfaction, and alignment with organizational objectives. More than 20 million people use a Kronos solution every day. Learn more about Kronos' high-impact enterprise solutions at www.kronos.com.

    (C) 2005 Kronos Incorporated. Kronos, Workforce Central, Visionware, and the Kronos logo are registered trademarks of Kronos Incorporated or a related company. All other product and company names mentioned are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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CONTACT: Kronos Incorporated Michele Glorie, 978-947-2855 mglorie@kronos.com

KEYWORD: TEXAS INDUSTRY KEYWORD: MEDICAL SOFTWARE NETWORKING MARKETING AGREEMENTS SOURCE: Kronos Incorporated

Copyright Business Wire 2005