Scheduling App Saves Time and Improves Communication for Medical Center

As the department grew, scheduling became much more complicated. Ken pushed the limits of Excel as a scheduling tool, to the point that no one but Ken could understand the schedule. Creating a new schedule each month became a daunting and time-consuming task. The process had a high potential for errors.

Once complete, the schedule was so packed with information it was difficult to read. Open shifts were not easily visible and sometimes caused missed shifts resulting in a scramble to fill them at the last minute.

Managing schedule changes was equally problematic as it required notifying team members each time there was a schedule revision. There were times when notifications were missed or not read, resulting in team members showing up on wrong days, or not showing up when scheduled.

With Inovalon’s Schedule Management^™, Ken maintains a perpetual schedule. He can easily see all departments and has instant visibility into gaps in the schedule. Notifying staff of open shifts is done easily through text messaging and/or email, eliminating the need for phone calls. With easy access to the schedule across all departments, Ken can more effectively address time off requests and proactively address overtime. Ken has been amazed at the difference: “Using Schedule Management is like night and day from what we had… I don’t know how we survived on Excel as long as we did.”

Time and hassle are saved.
Prior to Schedule Management, Ken was spending up to 60% of his time on scheduling. With Schedule Management he has a 75% reduction in scheduling effort, spending about 10% of his time on schedules.

Team communication is improved.
Communication with the team is now both streamlined and effective with text and/ or email notifications of open shifts, schedule changes and requests.

Schedules are available from anywhere, any time.
The team can see the schedule from anywhere, at any time thanks to the cloudbased, mobile capabilities of Schedule Management. Additionally, they can pick up shifts, trade shifts and make requests all from their phones. When a change is made the schedule is instantly updated and viewable from any phone, tablet or compter.

No more errors.
Ken reports that the biggest issues he faced prior to Schedule Management – errors and omissions – have been eliminated.

The standard implementation of Schedule Management is brief, and getting started with the application is quick and simple, Ken explained. “The initial setup and implementation was assisted by the Inovalon team and was very helpful. I feel our team adopted the system quite easily. As with any change, there are questions and I highly recommend you use the support feature in Schedule Management regularly. You will receive prompt answers to your questions. I really appreciate the customer service for Schedule Management.”