Median operating margins are holding steady at health systems across the country, giving leaders increased confidence and bandwidth to pursue growth initiatives.
For many organizations — including small and rural facilities — technology has emerged as a critical success factor, particularly for enhancing efficiencies in workforce management, finance, supply chain and more.
To learn more about the challenges and opportunities facing small- and medium-sized healthcare organizations today, Becker's Healthcare recently spoke with Steve Febus, CFO at Pullman Regional Hospital, a critical access hospital in eastern Washington. He shared insights on the importance of growth to increase access to care, the need to "do more with less" and the role technology can play in creating operational efficiencies across the enterprise.
Delivering high-quality care to all
From providing healthcare to athletes and staff at Washington State University Athletics to delivering critical care to rural communities, Pullman Regional Hospital caters to diverse needs across different populations in its service areas. As the only provider of acute care and 24/7 emergency services for 20 miles in the eastern Washington area, Pullman Regional Hospital has provided physicians and other key stakeholders a seat at the table to define what healthcare looks like for the community. This approach has shaped the hospital's broader strategies and has facilitated tremendous growth.
When Mr. Febus joined Pullman Regional Hospital 36 years ago, there were 125 full-time employees. Today, there are more than 550 full-time employees and the organization manages 11 clinics; last year, it brought on a four-surgeon orthopedic practice and is now integrating another internal medicine group. Adding outpatient locations and providers to better support patient access needs and preferences, while reducing the overall cost of care, has been critical to Pullman Regional Hospital's success.
"We need to adapt care delivery and scale our services to keep pace with the evolving needs of our community across eastern Washington and northern Idaho," Mr. Febus said. "That kind of innovation requires conscientious investments that are guided by data. Technology that can surface insights is an enabler for business leaders and clinicians alike."
The organization also supports an accredited, rural family medicine residency program in partnership with Washington State University's Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. This is the first program of its kind in the nation, preparing physicians for the unique demands of practicing in rural areas. And the local residency program at Pullman Regional Hospital attracts new physicians to the community, many of whom may choose to stay in the area after completing their training.
Accelerating access to talent + making data-driven decisions
Pullman Regional Hospital aims to leverage technology that empowers the organization to provide high-quality patient services and deliver on its mission.
"Being small, we have to be solution-driven, technologically savvy and garner data to make improvements," Mr. Febus said. "At the same time, we like to invest in enterprise systems that quietly enable us to provide services to patients. We want the human touch to be at the forefront, not the technology."
In 2021, Pullman Regional Hospital decided to retire its 25-year-old IT and EMR system and migrate to Epic and Workday. The organization implemented the Workday full-suite solution for workforce management, financial management and supply chain management.
"One fully integrated system makes the most sense — it's better for employees and clinicians," Mr. Febus said.
Mr. Febus underscored the significant challenges Pullman Regional Hospital has faced in recruiting and retaining staff. "You need technology to do that, and Workday has been at the forefront," he said. With Workday, Pullman Regional Hospital has been able to automate the whole hiring process. In addition, employees can easily access their information, select benefits and understand their compensation.
The organization recently shifted the employee benefits renewal process to Workday, as well. This has supported employee morale and retention, since people can make changes in real-time. "It smooths out our whole process and improves HR efficiency," Mr. Febus said. "We don't have to add employees because the technology supports our platforms and goals."
Another key aspect of Pullman Regional Hospital's growth is empowering leaders to make effective decisions and manage business processes. "We developed an education program to help leaders understand their financial position and then access information in Workday to drive better decision-making," Mr. Febus said.
From a financial management perspective, Pullman Regional Hospital has embraced Workday. All of the organization's accounts payable, invoices and purchase orders are handled in the Workday environment. The platform has also streamlined audits.
"Workday has made our auditing process a million times better," Mr. Febus said. "We carve out specific information and give auditors secure access to it. They can answer their own questions, and we don't have to pull paper files from the back recesses of the hospital. The year after we deployed Workday, we came through our audit without a single finding. That was a good feeling."
The road ahead: expanding tools for greater visibility and improvements
Real-time access to information has drastically changed Pullman Regional Hospital's approach to decision-making and its whole process flow — and the value the organization has achieved already in the first year of using Workday is only the beginning. Looking ahead, the organization is committed to continuous learning and expansion of the Workday system. The team plans to roll out contract management functionality to bring greater visibility into the usage and terms of contracts.
For other small- and medium-sized healthcare organizations that are considering a move to Workday, Mr. Febus offered a piece of advice.
"Don't panic," he said. "Think about what you want, map out your processes and build to that. That's where you'll find your efficiencies and effectiveness."
In a values-based industry like healthcare, Mr. Febus and the leaders at Pullman Regional Hospital put people first, while giving a nod to technology and the continued innovation that help support their mission of care. The smooth Workday deployment has delivered lasting results for the organization, including quick time to value and zero audit findings in the first year after adopting the solution.