Allina Health System saves time, shares info with intranet

Allina Health System, a Minneapolis-based not-for-profit healthcare organization, is reducing administration costs and informing workers by sharing project information through its intranet.

Allina is an integrated health care system of doctors, hospitals and health plans serving communities in Minnesota, western Wisconsin and eastern North and South Dakota. The organization has approximately 21,000 employees and over a million members.

Using Allina's intranet, dubbed "Knowledge Network," employees and users can publish and access information regarding project and product information. The system uses IntraNet Solutions' Intra.doc software.

One project currently underway on the Knowledge Network is a Y2K repository. Allina employees working on Y2K projects are sharing information to create a common understanding of Y2K preparedness efforts.

Also, one of Allina's hospitals is using the Knowledge Network to electronically exchange hospital and department policy and procedures, disaster manuals, reference materials, patient education forms, doctors' standing orders and relevant news.

Allina's provider contracts group is electronically storing over two thousand contracts and signatures, so customer service representatives and the provider contracts group can quickly reference important policy and contract information. Savings of up to 100-200 hours per week in documentation upkeep are expected.

Allina plans to Web-enable other hospitals and clinics so they can also access the Allina Knowledge Network. Other pilot projects are being planned for this year.

David Pryor, System VP Information Officer at Allina, said that Allina's intranet-based communication and information exchange will replace expensive paper-based processes.

Through its Knowledge Network, Allina tracks productivity documentation on each pilot project to check the ROI progress. "Hard cost" savings such as copies, binding and delivery of paper-based materials, are measured alongside "soft costs" savings like increases in productivity, reduced cycle time and improved customer service