As New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health navigates its expansion, the organization is increasingly prioritizing scalable, integrated solutions over traditional in-house builds.
Joe Moscola, executive vice president of enterprise services told Becker's that as the health system grows, now an $18 billion organization with potential annual revenue growth of about $1 billion, the complexity of operations necessitates robust solutions that can scale effectively.
"We can't necessarily do the small point-to-point solutions anymore," Mr. Moscola said. "It just becomes way too complex and expensive on the back end."
Historically, healthcare systems, including Northwell, have leaned towards building their own solutions, operating under the belief that they could do it better internally. However, Mr. Moscola explained that this approach is not always sustainable for large organizations.
"We're not a technology company; we treat patients and try to keep patients healthy," he said.
This core focus drives the organization's decisions on whether to build or buy. For instance, Northwell has moved away from maintaining numerous disparate systems and instead opted for more integrated, scalable platforms. Mr. Moscola highlighted the decision to partner with Epic for electronic health records as an example of this shift.
"We didn't want a patchwork. We wanted something that would be advantageous to our patients and clinicians," he said.
Another area where Northwell has strategically decided to build is in its staffing solutions. The health system created FlexStaff, an internal staffing company, in response to the inefficiencies and high costs associated with using external temp agencies. Since its inception, FlexStaff has saved Northwell more than $250 million in fees and has increased the efficiency and satisfaction of both temporary and permanent staff.
"It's like a try-before-you-buy approach," Mr. Moscola explained, noting that the program has significantly improved the organization's ability to manage staffing costs while ensuring high-quality care.
Northwell's approach to IT has also evolved, with a focus on leveraging cloud computing to enhance efficiency and security.
"When I first stepped into this role three years ago, only about 45% of our applications were hosted in the cloud," Mr. Moscola said. "We've partnered with Google to improve our speed and velocity, which is crucial for competing in the healthcare space."
As Northwell continues to innovate, the decision-making process around build versus buy remains central to its strategy. Mr. Moscola noted that the organization is constantly evaluating its options, always starting with the fundamental question: "Is this part of our core business?" From there, the focus shifts to whether Northwell can manage or build a solution in-house, or if partnering with an external provider will yield better results.