Client Success Story - Aurora Health Care

That’s what the foodservice management team at Aurora Health Care’s five-site, Milwaukee-region Integrated Delivery Network found out as they implemented a multi-module CBORD® system in their operations.

This Premier account can:

• Maximize rebates — According to John Riegler (above, far right), director of foodservices for Aurora Health Care, the department will be able to maximize its Premier CMA purchases, assure compliance, and capture all incentive and rebates.
• Improve management — Will also enhance Riegler’s ability to support operational decision making through standard recipes, product usage statistics, inventory control and retail price analysis.
• Implement best practice programs — The management team will be able to identify issues and concerns, recognize best practices, and distribute them throughout the system.
• Activate universal meal card — Employees who "float" between the five Milwaukee-region locations will be able to use their debit card/credit purchases at every facility, thereby increasing sales.
• Reduce training — Costs will go down since foodservice employees will be able to work at all locations without additional training.
• Know their customers — Returning patients will receive their first meal based upon their diet and preferences, no matter which one of the five Aurora facilities they visit.
• Share data — The facilities will save time by replacing a myriad manual tasks with a single, comprehensive system.

John Riegler says that with CBORD’s automation system, operators will achieve quantifiable, positive results quickly. As soon as Diet Office with ADT and Diet Order interfaces was implemented, incident reports (an NPO received a tray, for example) went way down. There were measurable improvements according to Gretchen Grzelak (above, far left), RD, Supervisor, Patient Foodservices. "Nursing could see the number of complaints and errors decrease."

"When you implement CBORD, you end up with a perfect situation," Riegler continues. "The computer does what the computer does best. The people do what people do best."

Aurora received the Governor’s 2002 Diamond Award in recognition of its diversity efforts as the first healthcare provider in the history of the award to be recognized for building a more diverse and skilled Wisconsin workforce.

• Boost patient satisfaction
• Increase the department’s efficiency
• Save money by redirecting staff away from tedious manual operations and reducing food cost.
• Implement HACCP and ensure HIPAA compliance.

Other recommendations the management team made concerning their successful implementation:

• Do something fast.
  "Even if you’ve only implemented 10% of the system, you need to work on something that shows value [return on investment] as soon as possible," says Mary Califf (above, center), Regional Site Director and System Specialist and the Aurora person responsible for CBORD automation. If people see the benefits of automation and the light at the end of the tunnel in the implementation process, "That will motivate them."
• Do your homework.
  "The fact that CBORD is Premier’s Sole Source Committed CMA for foodservice software solutions was certainly a factor in our decision to implement their Windows-based system," says Riegler
• Develop realistic time lines.
  "Go to as many CBORD Regional User Meetings as possible," suggests Grzelak. "Talk with other people in your area who are CBORD clients. Visit them. We found that very helpful. They will give you a realistic picture of what you have to do and how long it will take." The CBORD annual User Group Conference in August is also a valuable resource (www.cbord.com/ugz).
• Keep staff informed.
  They talk to each other anyway, so it’s better if you control the "spin" on the information.
• Keep the big picture in mind.
  "If you have Bedside Menu Entry, you can tell renal patients exactly what they can have for a meal," says Riegler. "They’ll know what they’re going to get. That’s a lot better than explaining to patients after the tray is delivered why they ended up with something that they did not order."
• Measure, Measure, Measure.
  If you know the department’s quantitative key indicators before implementation and then benchmark them against results after the implementation as well as the projected ROI, you will clearly show successes and gains-in-improvement efforts.

Aurora Health Care currently uses Foodservice Suite®, Nutrition Service Suite®, Room Service, as well as interfaces to clinical information and a primary supplier. They plan to add Bedside Menu Entry and a Cashless/Debit/Credit retail system to that line-up. Future plans also include implementing EventMaster® Plus!, NetCatering®, and a Cashless/Debit/Credit retail system.

Eventually management plans to move to one database for the entire Milwaukee region to enable the foodservice department to use a system-wide approach for menus, recipes, and items in the CBORD system.