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Greencastle Managing Transition As Riddle Health System Joins Main Line Health System

Posted on: Wednesday, 6 February 2008, 09:01 CST

Greencastle Consulting, a project management and consulting services firm, today announced that it is managing the transition as Riddle Memorial Hospital becomes a member of the Main Line Health System. With the Riddle-Main Line affiliation, effective as of February 2007, Riddle Memorial Hospital became Main Line Health's fourth acute care center. Both organizations are based in west suburban Philadelphia.

Greencastle Consulting, which focuses on maximizing the value of change for critical healthcare projects, has established an Integration Program Office at Main Line Health to manage the year-long process of evaluating and reconciling business processes in the functional areas of:

-- patient care -- corporate compliance -- nursing -- information technology -- clinical engineering -- legal services -- quality -- risk management -- materials management -- human resources -- physician services -- marketing -- finance -- philanthropy -- strategic planning

"When the two organizations decided to join together, our overall objective was to ensure that the move helped us achieve both our missions to a greater degree," said John J. Lynch, III, president and CEO of Main Line Health. "Greencastle Consulting is assisting us in accelerating the impact of providing a superior patient experience, with a focus on patient safety and quality care. Their understanding of the most effective ways of dealing with change management is enabling us to move expeditiously and make this process transparent to our patients and their families."

As a part of the engagement, Greencastle is helping Riddle Memorial and Main Line Health take advantage of the opportunities to improve operational performance and business processes wherever possible and to enhance safety and quality at every opportunity.

"Main Line Health and Riddle Health are devoted to enhancing patient safety and service, which is part of the reason why this is so exciting," said Jacob Kretzing, a senior partner at Greencastle. "Because of their focus on quality, this is more than a transition or consolidation project. They've tasked us with looking at how to actually improve performance and outcomes in each area."

The first stage of the project, assessment and prioritization, was designed to identify goals, measure gaps and understand how to leverage the organizations' subject matter experts. That stage concluded in July 2007 and was followed by tactical level planning to understand how best to achieve the desired goals associated with the year-one integration. Greencastle is currently in the program management phase, focused on guiding the workgroups required to execute their change plans for value realization. This phase will conclude in July 2008 with knowledge transfer.

About Riddle Memorial Hospital and Main Line Health

Riddle Memorial Hospital, located in Media, Pa., opened its doors in 1963 and today has 235 beds. The entire Riddle Health System has over 1,800 employees, and more than 500 physicians. Riddle provides a full array of health care services, including emergency services, surgery, medicine, vascular services, cardiac care, orthopedic and rehabilitation services, cancer care and obstetrics. Riddle also provides home health services, skilled nursing and behavioral health.

Main Line Health, based in Bryn Mawr, Pa., is a non-profit health system serving portions of Philadelphia and its western suburbs. Founded in 1985, MLH includes four acute care hospitals Lankenau, Bryn Mawr, Paoli and Riddle, along with Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital, Main Line HealthCare (a physician network); the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research; The Home Care Network; Main Line Clinical Laboratories; the Wayne Center, a skilled nursing facility, and Mid County Senior Services. The mission of Main Line Health is to provide a comprehensive range of health services, complemented by appropriate educational and research activities to meet the needs and improve the quality of life in the communities served by its hospitals and services. Main Line Health is part of the Jefferson Health System (JHS), founded in 1996, whose members also include Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, the Albert Einstein Healthcare Network, Frankford Health System, and Magee Rehab.

About Greencastle Consulting

Greencastle Consulting delivers change leadership and execution experience for complex healthcare projects, including IT-driven clinical transformation. From readiness assessment through roll out, Greencastle guides organizations in visualizing objectives, generating impact as planned and maximizing the value of investments. Through advanced techniques, process improvement, leveraging human capital, group dynamics and training, Greencastle's services can multiply the effectiveness of your existing clinical, business and technological resources. Founded in 1997, Greencastle serves healthcare exclusively. Greencastle consultants apply management methodologies that lead to greater workflow efficiency and ensure the outcomes of technology-based quality initiatives. Learn more at www.GreencastleConsulting.com.

Source: Business Wire

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