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Plexus Medical Group Makes Hospitals Accountable for Quality Care
WebFOCUS BI Solution Improves Visibility Into Healthcare Facilities and Processes
| Source: Information Builders
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS--(Marketwire - February 7, 2008) - Information Builders, the leader in
production business intelligence (BI) solutions,
today announced that the consulting firm Plexus Medical Group has come up
with an antidote for the lack of accurate performance information that
plagues hospitals and physicians.
Using Information Builders WebFOCUS platform, Netherlands-based Plexus has
created a nationwide system that delivers information about costs,
reimbursements, treatment success rates, and many other key performance indicators (KPIs). The BI solution,
called Pi, helps providers analyze the quality and efficiency of their
primary processes, then compares these results to national benchmarks.
Hospitals using Pi may have cost reductions of up to 10 percent of their
annual budgets, thanks to insight derived from the system.
"All healthcare organizations strive to provide high-quality care for an
equitable price. But how do these organizations know if they are achieving
this goal without precise measures?" asked Erik-Jan Vlieger, senior
consultant at Plexus Medical Group. "We're using BI technology to give
administrators and physicians a level of visibility into their facilities
and processes that was formerly difficult to achieve, so they can improve
the quality and value of their services."
Hospitals in the Netherlands are required to provide detailed information
to a national regulatory organization. This registration data is used to
calculate healthcare costs, regulate the prices that hospitals can charge,
and serves as a benchmark for the nation's healthcare facilities. Pi
aggregates the data that hospitals deliver to this national regulatory
organization and presents it through BI dashboards so healthcare organizations can compare the quality
of their services to internal and external standards. For example, Pi might
reveal that one department in a hospital has a consistently superior
treatment success rate. Further examination of the data may disclose that
this department maintains a higher nurse-to-patient ratio than other
departments. Administrators can then adjust staff schedules to improve the
situation.
With help from Information Builders Professional Services, Plexus built Pi
in about six months during 2007. WebFOCUS presents performance information
through role-based balanced scorecards, including stats about the delivered
and experienced quality of care, financial results, and market position.
Today, ten hospitals in the Netherlands are actively using the system to
fine-tune the quality and efficiency of the care they deliver to patients.
Plexus anticipates growing its user base from 10 percent of the hospitals
in the Netherlands to 30 or 40 percent. The company is also exploring
opportunities to bring Pi to other countries.
Pi also generates data for health inspectors and insurance suppliers, along
with a detailed analysis of financial results and physician profiles. This
makes it a valuable managerial tool for hospital directors.
"Developing KPIs and monitoring patient trends is vital for today's
healthcare organizations," said Gerald Cohen, founder and CEO at
Information Builders. "Carefully tracking these measures leads to better
management, which results in greater patient satisfaction and more
consistent quality control. Plexus Medical Group is setting new precedents
for how BI can impact the healthcare industry."
About Information Builders
Information Builders award-winning combination of business intelligence and
enterprise integration software has been providing innovative solutions to
more than 12,000 customers for the past 30 years. WebFOCUS is the world's
most widely utilized business intelligence platform. It provides the
security, scalability, and flexibility needed at every level of global
extended enterprises. Its simplicity helps create executive, analytical,
and operational applications that reach dozens to millions of users.
Information Builders iWay Software suite provides state-of-the-art,
multi-purpose, pre-built integration components that address all SOA, application, data, and information management
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software platform providers. Together, these products give Information
Builders customers the ability to live up to the company motto: "Your
Business. No Barriers."
Information Builders award-winning technology has successfully provided
quality software and superior services to more than 12,000 customers,
including most of the Fortune 100 and U.S. federal government agencies.
Headquartered in New York City with 90 offices worldwide, the company
employs 1,450 people and has more than 350 business partners. For more
information visit http://www.informationbuilders.com.