Phoenix Health Systems (PHS) offers a comprehensive range of professional services focused on creating a positive, collaborative business impact while improving clients’ operational performance. Our strategic consulting team members possess the breadth and depth of knowledge and field-tested experience to deliver compelling, practical solutions based on years of experience in the healthcare and consulting industries.
Our consultants understand the range of challenges facing both large and small providers in today’s healthcare marketplace and as a result, they are able to provide timely, effective solutions with measurable results.
Our Consulting Services Approach
Organizations hire consultants because they have business problems that cannot be solved by internal resources, they require skills they do not have internally and/or they need resolution to a business problem within a timeframe they can not perform on their own. In addition, there is often the need for a fresh, unbiased view and a proven/innovative way to approach a problem.
Strengths we bring to our clients include:
- Deep healthcare expertise and knowledge derived from extensive professional service delivery, experience and training. The PHS strategic consulting team is made up of only senior-level consultants with many years of healthcare experience.
- Hands-on knowledge of IT vendor software offerings when delivering services. Since our inception, PHS has been assisting clients with vendor selection and contract negotiations, as well as managing system implementations of solutions provided by all the major hospital information system vendors. We have extensive experience with Cerner, Siemens, Epic, Eclipsys, McKesson, Meditech, and Dairyland applications, to mention a few.
- Proven, structured methodologies and tools to solve client problems. These methods, tools, and techniques are tailored to specifically address each client’s needs and rigorously employed by our expert staff to ensure quality results.
- An organizational model focused on solving client business problems versus deployment of the next available resource. PHS’ professional services are customer-focused, value-driven, and results-based, demonstrating our understanding of the business (clinical) issues within the healthcare market.
- Tailored solutions incorporating professional management services specifically crafted to assist CEOs in achieving their goals of improved cash flow, operational effectiveness, improved quality of patient care, patient safety, and compliance with HIPAA and other legislative and regulatory requirements.
Strategic Consulting Services
Leadership Services
As healthcare providers experience vacancies in their information services or revenue cycle leadership positions, PHS has experienced professionals capable of assisting clients with these needs until full-time leadership is once again identified and brought into the organization. A lack of leadership in key positions can introduce delays to key projects and serve as a cause for operational disruption.
IT Diagnostic Services
Boards and senior management often have executive-level questions regarding the appropriateness of their Information Services (IS) planning, spending, staffing and/or effectiveness. PHS has consultants with the experience and skills necessary to objectively assess IS organizations using non-technical jargon to describe to management the steps necessary to achieve improvement.
IT Strategic Services
The use of IT by healthcare providers should be directly tied to supporting the specific business/ clinical goals and objectives of the organization. PHS provides assistance in performing strategic and tactical IT planning, disaster and recovery planning and business continuity planning. Throughout these assignments, PHS consultants work in support of management’s goal to effectively integrate the use of IT into business/clinical operations by guiding clients through the decision making necessary to finalize such plans.
Contracting Services
Our experience indicates that many clients encounter difficulties and/or issues with key IT projects based on the manner in which the contracting for IT solutions occurred. Frequently IT contracts focus on management’s desire to reduce costs and elapsed time related to the introduction of new or improved technology. Contracting for complex IT solutions is substantially different than contracting for new buildings or professional services to be provided to the community. A complete understanding of a vendor’s IT solution capabilities, IT project management approach, the IT implementation life cycle, and IT risk/change management is necessary to build these business and technical considerations into the contractual arrangement between the vendor and the client. PHS consultants bring the experience and knowledge necessary to effectively support contracting for new IT solutions and/or professional services to be provided by third-party vendors.
Implementation/Transformation Services
Frequently healthcare providers implement clinical and patient financial systems and use them over a course of five to seven years or beyond. Provider professional staff members are routinely focused and knowledgeable regarding the solutions they are given to support over time. As the decision is made to move to new and improved systems, however, the elapsed time between new system implementation and prior system implementation is sufficient for the innovation of new techniques / approaches to have occurred which eclipse current clients’ understanding or mastery. PHS consultants implement the IT solutions provided by all of the major vendors of healthcare information technology. They remain current by moving from one implementation project to the next and many are Project Management Institute (PMI) certified providing yet additional assurance of quality implementation outcomes. PHS embraces an approach of deploying key resources positioned strategically within our client’s implementation organization to provide maximum impact while seamlessly integrating with the client – vendor implementation team.
Quality Review Services
Today more than ever, the investment in human resources and hardware/software solutions to assist healthcare providers in achieving efficiency in operations is significant. Many industry observers have commented the investment made by healthcare providers in IT is second only to the investment made in physical plant and facilities. In order to be assured scarce resources are being wisely used, many healthcare provider executives rely on the objective assessment of a professional services organization like PHS to take a measured look at key IT project performance against plan and contract. We have deep experience in performing such quality review services, which include the review of large, complex projects (when not well managed, referred to as Runaway Projects), HIPAA evaluations and security reviews. Timely quality assurance reviews frequently introduce fresh insight into complex projects saving clients substantial investment in re-work.
Why Choose PHS?
For almost two decades, healthcare providers have trusted PHS to create a positive business impact by reducing long-term costs, increasing cash flow, assuring regulatory compliance and security, and improving patient safety. Our seasoned leadership team possesses breadth and depth of knowledge and employs proven methodologies gleaned from years of experience in the healthcare and consulting industries.
