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Blackrock Clinic Partners with SAS Ireland to Increase Cost Efficiencies and Enhance Patient Experience

Increased Financial Intelligence Translates into a Solid Competitive Edge

Blackrock Clinic, Ireland's leading independent hospital, today announced the successful rollout of a SAS Performance Management solution to improve the cost effectiveness and speed of patient treatment at its healthcare facility in Dublin. The software solution enables Blackrock Clinic to view its extensive operational and patient data in totality. It can now access meaningful financial intelligence from the data which allows the Clinic to optimise operational performance and accurately predict future costs and resource requirements. By enhancing operational decisions, the hospital has realised tangible improvements in the quality of the healthcare it provides as well as strengthening relationships with its patients, consultants, employees and suppliers whilst also improving financial performance.

By delivering powerful insights into the patient experience and tracking the patient throughout their stay, SAS ABM (Activity Based Management) allows Blackrock Clinic to identify where cost efficiencies can be realised throughout the facility. The solution allows the Clinic to more accurately define the actual costs of procedures across each stage of a patient's interaction and treatment within the facility. This allows senior management to pinpoint, in a highly understandable way, the top areas for action and the changes in processes and practices that need to be implemented to maximise profits and minimise costs – whilst preserving the high level of quality care service provided.

According to Bryan Harty, Chief Executive, Blackrock Clinic, before the solution was implemented there were increasing challenges around the large amounts of data being handled and managed in relation to patients, treatment outcomes, costs and activities. 'Senior management sought to understand where inefficiencies existed and to identify on an ongoing basis areas for growth and innovation in the patient experience. One of the major drivers for the SAS implementation was to enable decisions based on up-to-the-minute factual data at a detailed level to enable the hospital to effectively manage performance, price services and meet service-level commitments,'

'In the present economic environment, managing costs has become critical for Blackrock Clinic as the range and level of healthcare services  provided to our patients whilst continuing to offer a superior level of patient care. We now have financial intelligence that allows us to make informed, fact-based decisions which translate into improved performance, greater profitability and a solid competitive edge that underpins our patient offering.'

'We are committed to providing a first class environment for our patients, doctors and staff alike. We now have several capabilities that will assist us improve operational efficiency – one single trusted source of data, all data housed in one of several systems are input in a defined way and this data is all fed into SAS for reporting. We can now report on anything really – revenue by consultant, cost of procedure, referral information, billings, number of procedures, down to the costs effectiveness of a theatre. It is a tremendous asset at our finger tips which will ensure that our planning for resources going forward will be based on actualities and real data.'              

John Farrelly, Client Director, SAS Ireland, 'Hospitals are complex organisations, and the increasing amounts of data that they collect on patients, suppliers, services and finances adds to this complexity every day. Buried within that data is a myriad of opportunities to enable healthcare facilities deliver timelier, higher-quality patient care. That is where SAS comes in by providing a solution that allows Blackrock Clinic to make informed decisions that streamline processes, deliver revenue growth and reduce costs across the business.'

As a centre of excellence, Blackrock Clinic is constantly searching for ways to improve the patient experience while improving the speed and cost of treatments provided. It now has a centrally managed repository that automatically integrates data regardless of source, cleanses it, standardises it according to clinical data definitions and stores the data. This centralised control and automated standardisation provide a reliable, easy-to-use 'single version of the truth' for the entire organisation, enabling a structured and coherent approach to data management and patient intelligence.'