Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems has implemented Oracle Health's enterprise resource planning system at all of its subsidiaries as part of its Project Empower initiative, executives said during the company's Oct. 24 earnings call.
Project Empower, which CHS launched last year, combines the Oracle Health ERP system with other financial, supply chain and human capital management systems offered by the tech company.
"Our implementation of a new ERP and workflows, along with standardization of data under our Project Empower enters [its] final innings," CFO Kevin Hammons said. "As of Oct. 1, all of our subsidiaries are up and running on the new financial and supply chain platforms and transitioned into our shared service environment. We are on track to complete the implementation of the ERP by transitioning onto the new workforce management tools for HR, payroll and timekeeping, thus completing the bulk of the transition work in the first quarter of 2025."
In 2025, the 69-hospital system said it will focus on optimizing its use of the new tools and benefit realization.
Project Empower aims to reduce costs and boost revenue by improving efficiencies and eliminating disparate technology systems across CHS.
The initiative is redesigning CHS' workflows, particularly for administrative and back-office functions like pharmacy and supply chain. An integrated system with Oracle Health will help manage these functions and transition them into a shared service environment, through which the health system expects to gain significant efficiencies.
"This investment is yielding deeper insights into our business functions, and we expect to identify opportunities for additional standardization, expense management and value creation as our experience with this enhanced operational tool matures," CEO Tim Hingtgen said during the company's second-quarter earnings call.
The systemwide modernization and optimization initiative will also provide better access to and management of large-scale data and accelerate decision-making processes across CHS' hospitals.
"We were particularly pleased to see outperformance in the hospitals where we have implemented new technology and workflows and as part of Project Empower, which is providing better insight into procurement savings opportunities that we believe will continue to grow," Mr. Hammons said during the company's second-quarter earnings call.