Case Studies

NorthStar Keeps EnduraCare's IT Systems Healthy and Strong

The Challenge

EnduraCare's vision is to set the standard for excellence in the delivery of therapy services across the continuum of care, and to be the leading provider of contract therapy services — the best employer, the best partner, and the best performer. However, the company's IT situation was not quite up to those high standards, so to deliver on its vision, EnduraCare needed an information technology (IT) infrastructure that would also be at its best - today and into the future.

With disparate systems and multiple locations, EnduraCare's IT applications didn't "talk" to each other. The company's day-to-day technology needed consistency in order to accomplish goals such as implementing a company-wide e-mail system. While some IT tasks were being handled in-house and others were being outsourced, an underlying current was that these IT tasks weren't being addressed properly. "Simply put, we needed someone who could follow up on a lot of issues," says Robert Latz, Director of Field Operations, Information and Technology at EnduraCare. "We needed someone who had the knowledge, skill set and time organization to get our IT issues resolved quickly." That "someone" turned out to be the NorthStar Technology Group team.

The Solution

EnduraCare learned of NorthStar in late 2004 and was soon impressed. The NorthStar team not only assessed EnduraCare's situation holistically, but also quickly evaluated each piece of the infrastructure EnduraCare was utilizing for various business processes. In doing so, the end result was to deliver an IT solution that truly supported the way they wanted to do business. EnduraCare was also pleased that NorthStar was all-inclusive; other companies could only address a specific area of the company's needs.

EnduraCare says that NorthStar brought its IT resources together while working toward an overall IT strategy, ultimately saving the company a substantial amount of money. "They identified some holes and bridged them," says Latz. "NorthStar helped raise our IT infrastructure to the level it needed to be at."

The services that NorthStar provides EnduraCare encompass the three components of its Business Essentials offering: Managed Support, Managed Operations and Managed Strategy. Each component is interdependent upon the others regardless of whether NorthStar or EnduraCare manages its execution. By partnering with NorthStar, EnduraCare ensures that all its technology needs are met.

"When we need to address an IT infrastructure issue, I call NorthStar," says Latz, who is trained as a physical therapist. "I know our business, but I don't know all of the details related to IT infrastructure. We need NorthStar and their expertise to make some things happen. They definitely provide great value."

NorthStar Keeps Prairie’s IT Costs and Systems efficient

The Challenge

Rising costs of managing IT at Prairie St. John’s created a need to reduce FTE counts within that functional area, and this in turn created additional problems. Support issues went days or weeks without resolution. The skill set of existing staff members did not match the complexity of the environment. Critical strategic projects were left undone while day to day work prevailed. Simply put, the IT services and processes in place were not supporting the business goals of providing the most effective care management for patients.

The Solution

Prairie St. John’s needed a technology provider that could see the big picture and take action accordingly. From the beginning, the NorthStar Technology Group team was able to provide the numerous skill sets needed: Development, Database and Network Administration, Technical Support, Project, Vendor and Asset Management and Strategic Planning. NorthStar’s hybrid staffing approach included incorporating a quick resolution helpdesk supplemented with onsite staff for the tasks needing to be addressed in person. The blending of these functions allows both centralized support and the more complex technical functions to become an integral part of an organization. “We don’t view NorthStar as a vendor” says Tom Eide, CFO at Prairie St. John’s. “We view them as a complete department within our company that provides services necessary to ensure the success of our business.”

In addition, NorthStar meets strict service level agreements for support and project resolution times and is able to work well with physicians to manage expectations for technology use. Last, but certainly not least, NorthStar has demonstrated a cost effective ROI vs. an in house staffing model that addressed the fiscal concerns that created the original problems. “We are able to accomplish more with our IT budget now than we were before, while raising staff satisfaction with technical support issue resolution“ says Eide.