Dedicated to the Work of Health and Healing at Sanford Health
About the Customer
Sanford Health is a large health system dedicated to the integrated delivery of health care, genomic medicine, senior care and services, global clinics, research and affordable insurance. They chose CredentialStream for its breadth of functionality, data integrity, flexible reporting features, and high level of security.
Overview
Sanford Health is dedicated to the integrated deliveryof health care, genomic medicine, senior care andservices, global clinics, research and affordableinsurance. When the organization learned that theircredentialing software was being sunsetted, theydidn't stress. Sanford Health knew it was a greatopportunity to rethink their practices and needs as agrowing enterprise.
Key Challenges
Manage a growing enterprise:
When Sanford Health selected their original credentialing software, they were a singlefacility. Today they have operations spread across 5 different states. The organizationneeded a solution that would enable them to standardize their processes across thenetwork and enable their providers to move seamlessly from region to region servicingpatients.
Offer an affordable health plan:
Sanford Health has joined the increasing number of health systems that provides affordablehealth insurance to health plan members. This shift meant they needed a solution thatcould help them develop and manage their own physician network and payer credentialingprocess.
Put an end to time consuming work arounds:
Sanford Health's former credentialing software didn't have the comprehensive functionalityor automation required to cover the complete provider lifecycle. They often had to designtime consuming workarounds to fill the gaps.
"The automation is really encouraging. We areespecially excited about the reporting capabilities.We no longer have to build Excel spreadsheetsand manually filter things out or change things. Weleverage the out-of-the-box reports."
Mel Bolkema, Sanford's Senior Director of ProfessionalPractice, Sanford Health
Solution Selection Process
Sanford Health fully vetted three solutions. They chose CredentialStream for its:
Breadth of functionality:
Previously Sanford Health used multiple systems to managecredentialing, enrollment, privileging, and evaluation functions. With CredentialStream they canmanage all these tasks with a single solution.
Data integrity:
CredentialStream's continuously updated, comprehensive, and standardizeddatabase of U.S. physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, allied healthprofessionals, and registered nurses assures data accuracy.
Flexible reporting features:
CredentialStream's sophisticated engine and reporting tool, Bolt,comes with out-of-the box reports to simplify and automate reporting.
Security:
The ability to deliver tiered access ensures everyone has the information they needand nothing more.
Implementation
The Sanford team included IT, those responsible for enrollment, credentialing, and healthplan administration. Sanford also took a phased approach to their go-live versus launchingeverything at once, which eased the transition between their previous software andCredentialStream.
"We assembled a team to partner withVerityStream to configure CredentialStream'sout-of-the box content and workflows to ensureits optimized for all of our stakeholders."
Mel Bolkema, Sanford's Senior Director of ProfessionalPractice
Results
Increased Revenue
By eliminating manual processes and spreadsheets from the enrollment process, SanfordHealth can enroll providers with payers faster. They expect to write off a lot less bills goingforward.
Standardized Privileges
Sanford Health was able to fully standardize their privileges with CredentialStream's library ofbest-practice privilege forms. Providers can now request and track privileges granted online viaone source.
Improved Patient & Provider Experiences
Now that providers can complete applications and request privileges online, they can spendmore time with patients and less time on paperwork.
"An improved provider experience has beenone of the top benefits we have noticed sincemaking the switch to CredentialStream. Providershave expressed that having a one-stop-shop forcredentialing makes their lives easier."
Mel Bolkema, Sanford's Senior Director of ProfessionalPractice, Sanford Health
Looking Ahead
Sanford Health is dedicated to the work of health, healing, and comfort. The flexibilityprovided by CredentialStream will allow them to continue to expand their network of care. Tosupport their growth, they will continue to adapt CredentialStream's functionality. Next up, theyplan to:
- Utilize the system to pick up credentialing responsibilities for their skilled nursing facilities.
- Take advantage of additional privileging functionality, including Case Review, to ensure regulatory compliance by evaluating privilege volumes against granted privileges, identifying low volume and non-granted scenarios, and facilitating evaluations.
- Take advantage of Insights to see how their credentialing, enrollment and privileging processes stack up against industry averages and identify opportunities for improvement.
"Sanford Health is dedicated to the work ofhealth and healing. The Medical Staff Officeis the first line of defense when it comesto patient care. It's our job to make surethat we are credentialing and privilegingqualified providers to care for our patients.CredentialStream helps us do that."
Mel Bolkema, Sanford's Senior Director of ProfessionalPractice, Sanford Health