Background

One of the largest non-profit healthcare systems in the Southeast, the Greenville Hospital System is composed of a regional referral and teaching hospital, five medical campuses, outpatient and specialty services, health and wellness centers, research facilities, and a primary care network. The system’s goal to deliver comprehensive, high-quality healthcare is exemplified by GHS’ rank among the nation’s Top 50 integrated healthcare networks and its recognition as the region’s quality care leader. The 7,500 members of GHS’ healthcare team provide patient- and family-centered care to over a million patients annually.

Opportunities

As the second largest employer in upstate South Carolina with numerous facilities, GHS faced special challenges in their search for consistent, convenient regulatory training that would track employee compliance with ease. Greenville’s experience with computer-based training began in 1997 with an installed software solution, m3, now owned by HealthStream, which satisfied their initial needs but could not accommodate their changing demands and growing training needs. In 2002, they transitioned to the HealthStream Learning Center™ —HealthStream’s Web-based solution, which enabled GHS to:

• Better address the learning needs of a diverse, geographically dispersed staff
• Meet compliance requirements through real-time administration
• Improve courseware offering that is automatically updated
• Use Internet-based technologies

The HealthStream Learning Center solution offered GHS the tools to centralize the learning records for activities and students more easily and efficiently than the previous installed learning platform due to more efficient product design, including Web-based access.

HealthStream’s Learning Solution

Greenville’s partnership with HealthStream allowed their education team to create a blended training approach that provided system-wide access and met compliance requirements via a Web-based product.

HealthStream’s learning management system and regulatory courseware provided GHS with the ability to:

• Assign courses to staff by job title and function
• Provide role-based training that meets compliance requirements
• Automate compliance reports
• Tailor course information with annotation tools

According to Virginia Reeves, System Administrator, “This year we have been able to make assignments specific to job titles and departments so that the staff receives training relevant to their position. And by using the annotation features, we are able to provide information specific to employees.” Positive employee feedback during the transition included flexible, self-paced learning; the ability to turn the audio on or off; the “test out” feature that recognizes prior knowledge; and overall improved employee satisfaction with a browser-based application.

Outcomes

Since their transition from an installed product to HealthStream’s Web-based learning solution, GHS has reported increased compliance rates, decreased time needed to complete annual requirements, and fast, accurate reporting capabilities.

Computer-based training allowed GHS to reduce the time required for staff training by nearly 12,000 hours, which represented a cost savings of approximately $180,000. Previously, GHS had to pay staff members overtime to cover units while other employees were in the classroom receiving instructor-led training. With HealthStream, such overtime expenses were significantly reduced.

Best Practices

By transitioning from an installed system to HealthStream’s Web-based learning solution, GHS has been able to achieve a system-wide, consistent training program that provides accurate, real-time reporting and transcript viewings. Greenville now has training available at anytime and, as a result, has achieved a 98% compliance rate.

When asked about GHS’ successful implementation, Reeves credits careful planning including executive level support and employee preparation and training. “Part of our accomplishments were possible because we were empowered by leadership to provide a successful program. We led the charge to work with our IS and HR systems to provide a centralized training record for all educational activities.”

Other HealthStream customers recognized GHS when their best practices poster presentation won the “Best of the Best” award at HealthStream’s 2003 Summit—an annual user group attended by more than 250 customers. A two-time attendee of the Summit, Reeves presented GHS’ implementation best practices with a workshop entitled “We Took the HLC to the Entire Organization.”