John Muir Health
John Muir Health (JMH), serving Contra Costa and Solano counties in California, is one of the region's premier health care providers. JMH consists of two major medical centers, a psychiatric hospital and the John Muir Physician Network, a not-for-profit medical foundation. Additionally Muir Lab is one of the largest hospital outreach laboratories in the nation. JMH is a nationally recognized provider of care in many disciplines, including: cardiovascular, medicine, orthopedics, cancer, neurosciences, obstetrics, digestive disorders and emergency medicine, as well as a participant in leading-edge medical research and clinical studies. John Muir Health has been recognized as: a Top Hospital by US News and World Report, a Top 5 Trauma Center by the SMARTT report and a Top 10 hospital outreach laboratory.

Challenge
John Muir Health was looking to further develop information management principals and capabilities throughout the organization, including:

• Maximizing existing IT investments and vendor relationships
• Establishing a robust information exchange into and across John Muir Health and other community-wide entities and constituencies
• Using a value-based cost-benefit model for approving or rejecting specific IT initiatives
• Creating uniform and equal access to clinical and financial information
• Transforming data into information by supporting end user decision support and knowledge sharing tools
• Upholding a secure environment for communication and data access
• Sustaining regulatory compliance

Solution

• Use Fulcrum Methods Long Range Planning to create an initial IT Long Range Plan to ensure IT investments:
  • Are fully aligned with the organization’s business and strategic goals
  • Decrease costs across the organization
  • Achieve operational efficiency
  • Maintain or improve quality of care
  • Increase market share
  • Improve market image
• Use Fulcrum Methods Long Range Planning to regularly refresh the IT Long Range Plan to keep current with technical, operational, strategic, regulatory, functional and budgetary changes

Results

• JMH created a roadmap for technology deployment and process redesign for the short and long-term
• JMH initiated a process to revisit, validate and refresh the plan on an annual basis
• Constructed a future-state vision for JMH information technology capabilities
• Developed a cost-benefit ROI model for assessment of proposed JMH IT initiatives
• Prioritized information technology initiatives to position JMH in line with local competition
• Engaged executive management to educate them about industry trends and best practices