Independent Mission Community Hospital Weathers COVID-19 Pandemic Under ClearONE Solutions Umbrella
Mission Community Hospital (MCH), founded in the 1960s, is a respected institution in the San Fernando Valley. With $120 million in annual revenue, Mission Community Hospital has 145 patient beds (75 medical/surgical beds, 10 critical care beds and 60 beds for psychiatric care), along with two semi-permanent ER structures on the grounds with space for an additional 34 patients in need of alternative care. Licensed services available include surgical, orthopedic, oncology, urology, gastroenterology and neurology. Closed temporarily for rebuilding after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, today the hospital has 850 staff on the books and serves clients from across the state.
Healthcare IT Company ClearFuze Brought On Board
Mission Community Hospital CEO Jim Theiring was introduced to ClearFuze in 2019 when the hospital needed assistance with its IT systems. “We were looking for some stability in the IT department from a leadership perspective,” says Theiring. Originally brought in as a consultant, ClearFuze CEO Jason Gilbert became the hospital’s CIO, and now oversees the 7-person in-house team. “The ClearFuze team’s background in healthcare and healthcare clientele helped a great deal with implementation of ClearONE at Mission Community Hospital,” says Gilbert. “We were tasked with critical network and server issues at first. And now we provide strategic, comprehensive IT services across all platforms.”
Pre-Pandemic IT Managed Services
Beginning in March of 2019, ClearFuze took a close look at necessary process implementation, ran an overhaul of the technical IT infrastructure (which was aging and not functioning well) and met important compliance demands. “As it turns out, there were a lot of upgrades that weren’t done, and Jason and his ClearFuze crew came in and got us on track. A lot of important software and programs for the hospital were at stake,” says Theiring. Quick steps were also taken to update security measures to protect the hospital’s sensitive medical records.
Process and Platform Improvements
The electronic medical records software used by the hospital, along with scheduling and management systems, were in need of upgrades.
Paragon Allscripts Electronic Health Records (EHR) Platform: The primary EHR system for Mission Community Hospital was not up-to-date when ClearFuze came on board. “What they really did was get us current. We were several versions behind, and it was critical to be able to utilize Paragon to its fullest extent and make sure we were fully in compliance,” Theiring states.
McKesson OneContent Data Management System: Better flow and management of documentation was achieved with the latest version of OneContent.
Phillips Carestream Medical Imaging System: Upgrades were required for connectivity and updated operations.
NurseGrid Scheduling: This nurse scheduling management platform made it possible for users to easily trade shifts and manage labor, and the hospital saved a significant amount of money on potentially mismanaged scheduling. “It took us from an absolute manual pencil-and-grid scheduling system to an electronic system that could be accessed anywhere by the staff. They could see their shifts, we could send out notices on open shifts and people could fill open slots without having to start making phone calls to every nurse. It made a very labor-intensive process much easier,” says Theiring.
IT Vendor Contracts: Theiring explains that ClearFuze simplified and clarified relationships with external IT vendors. This saved MCH significant money on overlooked unnecessary expenses. “We needed them to go over our contracts as they related to IT. Whether they could be done cheaper or more efficiently.”
He adds with all of their platforms and processes, it was necessary to be better prepared for worst-case scenarios. “In the event that the unexpected happened to someone in IT, continuity plans had to be in place. Did we have all of the information we needed to continue operations and keep the hospital stable and thriving?”
Consolidating and Improving the IT Stack
A hardware overhaul was needed to create a hybrid cloud structure for MCH on the ClearONE management platform.
“They started out with 247 virtual servers in a hospital with 145 beds,” notes Gilbert. “We moved them entirely to new hyperconverged infrastructure: VMware vSAN compute and storage (VMWare 7.0). Now, they run on 80 virtual production servers. Cloud is used offsite for continuity. So if every in-house server fails, cloud backup can fire everything back up in under 10 minutes. That’s how a hospital needs to be run because these systems are so critical to patient health and safety.”
Theiring agrees. Cloud-based electronic medical records (EMRs) now work well for the team. “Being able to provide a safe, solid, stable network for our staff to input medical records electronically – It’s just critical to be up and running. A lack of connectivity results in a cumbersome manual charting process that is very inefficient.”
Meeting Hospital Compliance Needs
Hospital compliance was brought up to date for HIPAA, The Joint Commission and the CMS Meaningful Use (MU3) Program. Policies and procedures were reviewed and made current, which means reimbursement from Medicare/Medicaid could be acquired.
Critical Security Measures
Security was another immediate concern. ClearFuze addressed the following:
- Firewalls: Palo Alto firewalls were implemented to manage all external connectivity
- Screen lockouts
- Password complexity: multiple platforms were unified so that each employee wouldn’t need a long list of passwords for access
- Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
- Centralized security information event management (SIEM) system
- Better overall tracking of risks and threats
The 2020 Shift to Tackle COVID-19
When the pandemic hit Los Angeles County in full force in the spring of 2020, Mission Community Hospital needed more space.
The ClearFuze team worked hand-in-hand with MCH as a section not used for patients for 20 years was reactivated. “It was critical to have ClearFuze’s leadership,” says Theiring. “We were put in a position we’d never been in before. Every day brought something new. We transformed space that hadn’t been used for patient care since the Northridge Earthquake, 2 full floors that hadn’t been used since 1994. We have since transformed them into a 13-room ICU extension. The floor above that also had to be turned into usable medical space. And none of this area had the necessary IT infrastructure. ClearFuze was instrumental in putting a telemetry system in place, computers, phones, nurse call systems. We had to convert these meeting rooms and office spaces back into patient rooms in a very short period of time. And as it turns out, we used every single one of those rooms for months to help people survive COVID-19.”
Staff was realigned to deal with the influx of COVID patients. The new telemetry system required its own wireless antennas and its own independent network, which meant a lot of cabling and a monitor tech on duty 24/7. The telemetry system is used for COVID patients wearing wireless monitors constantly checking vitals and oxygen levels.
Two semi-permanent emergency department tents were built with help from the Army Corp of Engineers. “One is by the front entrance and the other is by the ER. Both keep the hospital ready to go in case of another potential surge,” says Gilbert. Each needed to be fully wired and equipped with phone lines, fire alarms, sprinkler systems and their own telemetry connectivity—not to mention PA systems. These alternative care facilities have 24 beds and 10 beds, respectively.
Vaccine distribution was another challenge where ClearFuze stepped in. “Something we had to tackle with COVID was vaccination vials and how many people we could vaccinate with each vial. We were lining up our supply and demand daily so that everyone who signed up got vaccinated and nothing ever went to waste,” adds Gilbert.
There was little the ClearFuze team did not impact in the hospital leading up to and during the pandemic. “They touch on all of our systems, from our main electronic health records all the way down to the phone system,” says Theiring. “Working with ClearFuze moving forward will enable us to spend more time treating our patients. It will allow us to have better overall patient care. Those great outcomes will be easier to achieve.”
Theiring continues, “Our patient care is better because we can spend more time on each person who comes through our doors. With ClearONE managed IT services from ClearFuze, we are spending less per month overall. And we are meeting all compliance and certifications needs to ensure we remain top-of-mind as a hospital in the crowded LA market.”
About the Client: Mission Community Hospital is an independent hospital owned and operated by Deanco Healthcare in the San Fernando Valley. They have 850 staff, 145 patient beds (75 medical/surgical beds, 10 critical care beds, 60 beds for psychiatric care) and an annual revenue of $120 million.
CTA: ClearFuze can assist with the needs of healthcare organizations of all sizes. Schedule a free consultation with us today and learn how we can help streamline internal processes, bring your company up to compliance and give you reliable support to focus on what you do best – Taking Care of Your Patients.