The Customer
Profit Advisory Group was approached by a regional medical facility in Mississippi to provide an audit of their current telecom situation and provide cost saving solutions for upgrading and modernizing the system. The client had an annual spend volume of $880,000 allocated for telecom. As a regional facility, the client offers their services to a large population. This requires them to operate in multiple locations as well as the addition of several physician groups.
Their Telecommunications Problem
Before engaging PAG for an audit, the medical facility operated a very antiquated local telecom service and was badly in need of an upgrade to meet their current demands. As a regional medical provider, the client had a two fold problem.
First, they dealt with a large population which required them to serve and keep track of a large volume of their own clients. Secondly, as a medical facility they deal extensively with detailed medical and financial information which needs to be easily and readily accessed. Developing and implementing a solution to handle this extensive data collection need was a key challenge and primary objective for this case.
The Telecom Solution
To solve the client’s data collection problems and upgrade their antiquated system, PAG implemented a two phase solution. The first phase was concerned with evaluating the client’s current technology, determining if an upgrade was feasible, and how to best implement a solution. This evaluation included a comprehensive inventory of all services used by both the hospital and all off-site facilities.
PAG was able to solve the client’s data collection problems by implementing PAG’s Data Collection Process in place of the previous system. PAG also conducted an inventory of all contracts and services provided by the hospital’s current vendors. This inventory was used to decide if these services were necessary, and to reduce costs using competitive bids and promotions through the hospital’s current vendors. Phase two of the solution dealt with automating the hospital’s cost accounting. This was accomplished through a consolidation of invoices and standardizing the hospital’s invoice reporting tools.
Telecom Savings
Through PAG’s efforts, the client was about to reduce their annual telecom costs by a staggering 21%. This amounted to $185,000 in savings for the hospital. In addition, these results were accomplished without any need for vendor changes, helping to ensure the quality of the hospital’s telecom services by working with previously established vendor relationships.
In addition, the hospital saved even more by receiving a $21,000 credit for previous billing errors. The first phase of project was a success by implementing a brand new system to replace the previous antiquated one. The new technology was easily installed by their staff and was paid for in full by the savings the hospital was able to secure. Phase two was just as successful, eliminating a large number of no longer needed or unused services. This reduced the hospital’s number of invoices by 72%.
[author_bio username=”Ken” avatar=”yes” name=”yes”]
