Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital Improves Nurse Satisfaction and Saves $3.4 Million with Kronos®
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CHELMSFORD, Mass., May 6, 2010 — Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital is using workforce management solutions from Kronos® Incorporated to improve nurse satisfaction and productivity, resulting in savings of more than $3.4 million in labor costs. These benefits are ultimately helping the hospital further enhance quality care delivery, the organization's primary mission.
News Facts
- Northwestern Lake Forest, named the Consumer Choice Hospital for Illinois' Lake and Kenosha counties for five years in a row for having the best doctors, nurses, and overall quality, is using time and attendance and employee scheduling solutions from Kronos. Kronos is implemented across all units of the 215-bed community hospital.
- Prior to using Kronos, Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital was using a combination of manual and partially automated systems to track time and schedule nurses. As a result, the hospital lacked real-time visibility into critical labor data and the scheduling process was inefficient and reactive. Complete automation and standardization of workforce business processes with Kronos has helped Northwestern Lake Forest achieve a productivity level of 95-100 percent.
- Additionally, since standardizing with Kronos, the hospital has saved $3.4 million through lower recruitment costs and decreased use of agency nurses and overtime. Turnover rate is now only nine percent as opposed to 24 percent in 2006.
- The nurses also attribute the standardized, fair scheduling system as a contributor to the hospital's "above the national median" ranking in staff satisfaction in the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators, a database that reports and evaluates nursing care.
- Northwestern Lake Forest has also achieved a more consistent staffing mix with Kronos, which blends novice and expert nurses. Nurse managers can now not only see credentials of each nurse but they can also view commitments and overtime statuses in real time, which helps them take preemptive action to avoid overtime and potential skills mismatches.
- Kronos also allows visibility into nurse certifications and automatically generates reports that demonstrate which nurses are coming up for re-certifications.
Supporting Quotes
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Kimberly Nagy, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, vice president & chief nursing officer, Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital
"Our organization is aggressive about embracing innovative technology in all areas. We have superior clinical equipment, but if the best nurses to care for the patients are not at the bedside, the value of such technology is diminished. Kronos is as critical for us as deploying electronic medical records or any other technology initiative. Automated scheduling impacts the key cornerstones of our operation: employee satisfaction; patient care; and financial outcomes."
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Brian Graves, global practice leader of healthcare, Kronos
"Northwestern Lake Forest is an example of a hospital that constantly innovates to ensure that highly talented and complementary teams are collaborating to deliver quality care. Automating with Kronos is another forward-thinking step for the organization that not only helped streamline critical processes for improved productivity but additionally saved millions of dollars."
About Kronos Incorporated
Kronos is the global leader in workforce management solutions that enable organizations to control labor costs, minimize compliance risk, and improve workforce productivity. Tens of thousands of organizations in 60 countries — including more than half of the Fortune 1000® — use Kronos time and attendance, scheduling, absence management, HR and payroll, hiring, and labor analytics applications. To learn how Kronos uniquely delivers complete automation and high-quality information in an easy-to-use solution, visit www.kronos.com.
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Contact
Indrani Ray-Ghosal
Kronos Incorporated
+1 978.947.3042
indrani.rayghosal@kronos.com