Progressive healthcare organizations need reliable, cost-effective computer systems that can guarantee that hospital staff will have easy, immediate access to vital patient information. One organization that is effectively controlling costs while enhancing quality of care is Novant Health, Inc.  

Novant is the result of a recent merger between North Carolina-based Presbyterian Healthcare Systems of Charlotte and Carolina Medicorp, Inc. of Winston-Salem. The new entity is as strongly focused on keeping its patients healthy as it is on keeping its bottom line operationally fit.

A founding member of the North Carolina Health Network, which links physician hospital organizations across the state to improve healthcare management, Novant invests heavily in research and development - conducting 30 to 50 clinical projects each year. Employing more than 12,000 people, Novant operates several wellknown outpatient medical centers and clinics, and it has eight inpatient facilities, three of which Novant Health, Inc. uses IBM Global Services to help predict system needs. are acute care hospitals. Due to the merged organization's larger scope, Novant must ensure its information systems can meet future requirements. To gain a competitive advantage in this arena, Novant turned to IBM for capacity planning services.

"...IBM helps us with our annual capacity planning to give us a clearer picture of what is needed immediately and down the road."

— James Kluttz, manager of operating systems

Forecasting system needs

"Before working with IBM Global Services capacity planning specialists, we'd often put additional capacity on the floor, and a few months later, we'd still need more," explains James Kluttz, manager of operating systems, Novant. "Now, IBM helps us with our annual capacity planning to give us a clearer picture of what is needed immediately and down the road."

"IBM helps us predict potential bottlenecks before they cause problems for us," says Kluttz. "Even if we don't implement the specific application included in our forecast, we often use something similar, so reality closely follows what we anticipate."

With IBM's help, Novant uses SnapShot, a capacity planning tool, to better understand the performance of its S/390 environment. By imitating the system's workload, SnapShot helps Novant analyze present and future system performance under various conditions by creating a model based on actual performance data. This model lets Novant examine alternative traffic growth patterns and configuration options by analyzing "what-if" scenarios. Novant uses this information to study current and potential applications, as well as implications of new clinic openings and/or acquisitions to forecast capacity requirements.

"Working with IBM Global Services gives us a competitive edge. We now have the capacity and flexibility to handle new demands."

— David Anderson, assistant director of operational systems services

With IBM's help, Novant uses SnapShot, a capacity planning tool, to better understand the performance of its S/390 environment. By imitating the system's workload, SnapShot helps Novant analyze present and future system performance under various conditions by creating a model based on actual performance data. This model lets Novant examine alternative traffic growth patterns and configuration options by analyzing "what-if" scenarios. Novant uses this information to study current and potential applications, as well as implications of new clinic openings and/or acquisitions to forecast capacity requirements.

Thanks to IBM and SnapShot, Novant's forecasts are now much more accurate. In fact, forecasts have fallen within two to five percent of projections, giving system administrators more realistic planning numbers. And they're confident what they put on the floor will meet anticipated needs and fall within expenditure forecasts.

IBM's solution has brought Novant's information technology (IT) department added credibility. Hospital administrators now rely on the department's forecasts when planning the organization's growth. "When we tell them what power is needed to run our organization under different scenarios, they're more prepared and can plan better," says David Anderson, assistant director of operational systems services, Novant.

Now that Novant can predict with confidence how its systems will perform under existing system conditions, its staff enjoys sub-second response time. And should Novant continue along its aggressive growth path, it is ready and able to maintain the response time it needs. "Our end users on the hospital staff never experience sluggish performance," says Anderson.

Not only is Novant's staff happy, but hospital administrators are also more effective decision makers. From an IT perspective, the organization is more proactive. Employee productivity has increased as capacity planning has become automated, freeing the IT staff to focus on more strategic functions.

"Working with IBM Global Services gives us a competitive edge," says Anderson. "We now have the capacity and flexibility to handle new demands. Using SnapShot helps us say 'what if' by looking a year or two down the road. We can think outside of the box, which helps us further optimize system performance."

With the merger of Presbyterian Healthcare Systems and Carolina Medicorp, Inc., it is even more critical for Novant to forecast system needs. "We're dealing with a much larger system now, and accurate forecasting is critical to Novant's successful growth," says Anderson. "With IBM and SnapShot helping us to better understand and balance our workload, we're confident we'll reach our goals more easily."