Firm: West Monroe Partners
Type of Work: Pro Bono
Client: CommunityHealth
Founded in 1993, CommunityHealth is dedicated to serving the uninsured and underserved in Chicago and surrounding communities. In 2014, the organization provided more than 25,500 medical and dental visits for more than 10,500 patients. This level of care is possible through the time and talent of volunteers, including more than 450 healthcare providers.
While the Affordable Care Act provides millions of Americans with new health care options, there are many who continue to fall through cracks in the system; for example, an estimated 500,000 residents of Chicago's Cook County will remain uninsured in 2018.
To increase its service capacity, CommunityHealth must combat rising operating costs, as well as regulatory changes that have mandated technology changes, including use of electronic medical records (EMRs), in order to collaborate with other healthcare providers.
Initially, West Monroe was providing IT support to CommunityHealth, says Judy Haasis, Executive Director, CommunityHealth, but when a board member connected with Dean Fischer, West Monroe's CEO, the relationship really took off.
West Monroe Partners supported CommunityHealth for several years by providing discounted IT operations support, says Mark Nelson, a Director with West Monroe. In October 2013, West Monroe formally added CommunityHealth to its 1+1+1 social responsibility initiative, through which it donates 1 percent of its talent in pro bono and at-cost work to help organizations in the communities advance their missions and impact.
Since then, West Monroe tapped its business and technology expertise to assist CommunityHealth in two ways: through pro bono projects that help CommunityHealth operate more efficiently and effectively, and through donated IT help-desk and technology support services that maintain a reliable infrastructure, says West Monroe's Senior Director Will Hinde, who is also a member of the organization's board of directors.
"One of our initial pro bono projects was an IT/process assessment of point-of-care services," Hinde says. "Our industry and technology specialists observed processes, conducted interviews, and then recommended changes such as ways to reduce paper-based tasks, improve the flow of patients from check-in to visit room, and reallocate volunteers and staff to higher-value, expansion-oriented activities."
In addition, since October 2013, West Monroe's Performance Services team has donated 24/7 help-desk and technology support services, including monitoring and maintaining all of CommunityHealth's systems, networks, and back-end infrastructure, Nelson says.
Because of West Monroe's help, Haasis says CommunityHealth has been able to open its second location in the Englewood neighborhood. Altogether, West Monroe has donated services valued in excess of $140,000, and its commitment is ongoing, Hinde says.
West Monroe's work has had a two-fold benefit, says Nelson: helping CommunityHealth to make important process and technology changes that will enable it to serve more people, and freeing budget to spend on other vital projects and staff essential to increasing its service capacity.
"CommunityHealth is not a sophisticated IT organization but there are opportunities for us to help them be more efficient, how they share and access information, how they check-in patients and follow them through the entire process," Hinde says. "We are also looking for ways that we can use West Monroe's bench strength to help assist with some of the projects that CommunityHealth hopes to do."
Haasis says: "We are a small non-profit and just knowing that we have this support from West Monroe has made all the difference. It's absolutely meant everything to us."
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