BITHGROUP Technologies was contracted by a healthcare regulatory agency to assess its operations and develop specifications for a proposal to acquire a new “state of the art” IT system to replace its existing inadequate IT system. The agency’s goal in acquiring the new IT system was to dramatically improve efficiency and decrease costs related to processing applications received from new and existing licensees; as well as to enable optimal performance of all other related regulatory activities under its purview.
With the agency being in the midst of a reorganization, it was addressing backlog and manual renewals; therefore, staff was not readily available to assist with the assessment of operations and the business flows. Furthermore, manager and staff meetings were no longer occurring. During the assessment of the team, some managers demonstrated a need for additional leadership development. To meet this need, BITHGROUP Technologies provided one-on-one coaching to the management team and recommended a formal training program. BITHGROUP Technologies also reinstated weekly manager meetings.
To handle the inadequacy of outdated policies and procedures, an analysis was performed by BITHGROUP Technologies during the first three months of this six-month engagement to identify existing information related to policies and procedures. Following this, BITHGROUP Technologies analyzed business flows concurrently with a human resources change management consultant and a policies and procedures consultant, who were contracted by the agency upon BITHGROUP’s recommendation. As part of its analysis, BITHGROUP reviewed systems used by other vendors; analyzed other state pharmacies’ operations; reviewed health occupation boards’ operations; conducted interviews with the Board, Executive Director, Deputy, management, and staff; and extracted information from these analyses to support its findings and recommendations.
BITHGROUP Technologies also made short-term recommendations to shorten cycle times and improve the operating model for processing applications, inspection and complaint reports, fee collection, and other tasks related to monitoring and communicating BOP’s decisions. The analysis provided a phased approach to the implementation of the recommendations to streamline processes and reduce inefficiencies. Short-term and medium-term recommendations led to double-digit returns for processing applications. Moreover, BITHGROUP recommended language for inclusion in the vendor solicitation for a new IT system and set of processes for the longer term.