Stevens Hospital

Dramatically reducing HIPAA compliance costs and frustration

Based in Edmonds, Washington, Stevens Hospital provides a full range of medical services through a central hospital and several community clinics. Stevens struggled with the time and expense required to comply with the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

The Challenge

Steven’s healthcare needed to take action on HIPAA. They were challenged to eliminate much of the administrative work required to create and implement new policies and procedures and cut the number and duration of HIPAA-related meetings. Together with Resolute, Stevens developed a solution that takes advantage of the tight integration between Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003 and Windows SharePoint Services.

The Results

The Microsoft Office System solution has dramatically reduced the amount of time and resources required to comply with HIPAA leading to an Internal Rate of Return of 81 percent on the project.

Using this Microsoft Office System solution, Stevens Hospital has been able to improve its compliance efforts through enhanced organization and automation. Stevens drastically reduced the time and effort that staff members spend on HIPAA compliance, and eliminated the need for an outside consulting resource to manage the compliance effort. “Our rapid acceptance of this solution, which was driven by the familiar user interface of Microsoft Office, will lead to a 50 percent reduction in our workload for HIPAA compliance,” says Kent Hargrave, Stevens’ VP of Information Management.

In addition to an improved work environment and more manageable work schedules for staff members, Stevens expects an internal rate of return of 81 percent and payback in less than eight months. This payback period means Stevens will recoup its investment within a one-year budget cycle.

Improved Collaboration on Procedures

The solution has improved the collaboration efforts of the individual teams reviewing regulations and creating new policies. The total time required to create a new procedure has been reduced by 19 percent, allowing staff members to spend more time on their primary roles.

Streamlined Review Process

The document review process was streamlined using Windows SharePoint Services, resulting in a 25 percent reduction in time spent on reviews. “Document Workspaces provide an ideal collaboration environment for document approvals,” says Hargrave. “The software can automatically send an e mail requesting approval, with a URL linked to the specific document. It takes all the effort out of the process. Senior staff at the hospital needed this improvement so they could focus their efforts on other critical areas of hospital administration.”