Healthcare Cloud Partnership to Bolster Health System Operations Management

Indiana-based Methodist Hospitals has partnered with cloud solutions company Infor to create a cloud-based healthcare application that will allow the health system to standardize key processes in various areas, such as finance, human resources, supply chain, and operations.

According to the press release, Methodist Hospitals will automate many critical processes and work to move its operations to the modernized cloud architecture solution in an ongoing effort to standardize and optimize them across the health system. In doing so, Methodist Hospitals aims to achieve strategic business goals, including providing high-quality care to its patient population.

Leveraging cloud technology, the health system seeks to consolidate information across its network to improve budget management and cost reduction. Methodist Hospitals can also use its cloud solution to improve human capital management by eliminating complex systems, processes, and workflows.

For example, the press release notes that through the platform, staff can increase supply chain efficiency using clinically integrated supply chain management software to obtain and combine necessary analytics data and foster communication between the clinical and supply chain teams.

The collaboration builds on an existing 20-year relationship between Methodist Hospitals and Infor. The health system employs over 400 physicians and 2,500 other staff members across 60 specialties, making streamlined processes crucial to achieving the organization’s goals, the press release states.

"Our organization is a healthcare leader in Northwest Indiana, and with that comes the responsibility to consistently evaluate our own internal processes to ensure we are providing our teams and communities with the best possible systems and solutions, which can directly impact how care is delivered. We have grown throughout the years, and it was essential that we work with a partner who understands our business and is able to help us seamlessly consolidate siloed systems and third-party applications into one single voice, in order to achieve our goals," said Matthew Doyle, CEO of Methodist Hospitals, in the press release. "Infor's proven cloud-based model will be able to provide us with the tools we need to glean more analytics from our data, simplify future upgrades, and keep us current with modern technology needs across multiple departments."

This is the latest example of a health system leveraging cloud technology to meet strategic goals.

In June, Montana-based St. Peter’s Health teamed up with Innovaccer to implement cloud technology that would support EHR data unification and care site collaboration. Two months later, Baptist Health South Florida deployed the company’s Health Cloud platform to enhance population health analytics, provider engagement, and care management.

Last month, LifePoint Health and Google shared the details of a new, multi-year strategic partnership aimed at advancing data interoperability, patient monitoring, and virtual care through the tech giant’s cloud-based Healthcare Data Engine.