WellStar Health System Selects Avantas for Healthcare Enterprise Labor Management Solution

Five-Hospital System and Associated Medical Group to Deploy Avantas’ Consulting Services and Technology to Transform Labor Management Practices, Optimize Operating Budgets

<0> WellStar Health System Selects Avantas for Healthcare Enterprise Labor Management Solution </0>

<0> For AvantasJessica Cohen, 617-332-9999 x203 </0>

Avantas, a leading provider of strategic labor management technology, services and strategies for the healthcare industry, today announced that WellStar Health System (WellStar), has selected its consulting services and patented labor management software, Smart Square®, in an effort to improve labor performance for the entire WellStar system, starting with its 124 nursing units.

Under the terms of this agreement, WellStar will adopt Avantas’ proven HELM™ (healthcare enterprise labor management) methodology, allowing the organization to integrate labor resources across its five hospitals and medical group, which is made up of more than 500 primary care providers, specialists, and advanced practitioners. WellStar will also implement Avantas’ Smart Square technology, the healthcare industry’s only comprehensive labor management solution developed healthcare professionals healthcare professionals. This technology will provide a transparent view of staffing, scheduling, and productivity at the enterprise level. Smart Square is planned to go live in July 2013.

WellStar will implement Avantas’ business intelligence tools and Smart Square dashboards across its five acute care hospitals and more than 100 medical group practice locations, providing in-depth analysis of the entire system’s labor workforce and operational practices. This includes identifying utilization trends, designing strategies based on demand information, outlining the workforce demographic, identifying trends in staff dissatisfiers, and quantifying high-margin opportunities.

“We will be working with WellStar over the next 18 months to optimize the impact of our work strategies and software across 124 nursing departments, which will allow for a single, enterprise-wide view of labor resources,” said Chris Fox, CEO, Avantas. “WellStar is a leading healthcare organization and its selection of Avantas after visiting one of our client sites is a real testament to the capabilities of both our HELM methodology and our labor management IT solution, which truly transforms the labor management process.”

HELM represents a disruptive innovation for the healthcare industry, challenging organizations to rethink what is possible with regard to labor management in all departments. The approach is comprehensive and sophisticated – combining the science of workforce planning, demand forecasting, operational best practices, and a complete set of scheduling and staffing tools. Avantas has leveraged unique client experiences across provider organizations of all sizes to detail effective methodologies that help organizations rise above departmental silos and implement a consistent and effective way to integrate labor across the enterprise.

To learn more about Avantas’ HELM-based consulting services and view a demonstration of its industry-leading patented labor management solution, please visit booth #600 at the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) 2013 National Institute at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL from June 16 - 19, 2013.

Recognized as the fifth most integrated healthcare delivery system in the country, WellStar Health System is the largest not-for-profit health system in Georgia and serves a population of nearly 1.3 million residents in five counties. The vision of WellStar is to deliver world-class healthcare. A national leader in the transformation of healthcare delivery, WellStar launched two initiatives in late 2012 – the Center for Health Transformation and the Georgia Health Collaborative – that will have far reaching effects on healthcare both locally and nationally. WellStar includes WellStar Kennestone Regional Medical Center (anchored by WellStar Kennestone Hospital)and WellStar Cobb, Douglas, Paulding and Windy Hill hospitals; the WellStar Medical Group; Urgent Care Centers; Acworth Health Park; Health Place; Homecare; Hospice; Atherton Place; Paulding Nursing Center; and the WellStar Foundation. For more information, call 770-956-STAR or visit wellstar.org.

Developers of the HELMmethodology (healthcare enterprise labor management), Avantas is devoted to serving the healthcare industry. Its proprietary approach to managing labor consists of consulting services and a scheduling and productivity solution, Smart Square. This comprehensive approach provides its clients with tailored best practice labor management strategies designed to drive substantial and sustaining cost and quality improvements across the enterprise through automation. For more information, please visit the Avantas website at .