Healthcare organizations rely on doctors, nurses and staff to take care of their many patients. But how do they take care of their hospitals?
For SSM Health, and hundreds of systems like it, the answer is computerized maintenance management software (CMMS) from FSI.
With 11,000 providers, SSM has provided exceptional in- and outpatient services to more than 2 million residents in Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. Keeping the facilities operating are thousands of pieces of equipment, from HVAC systems to electrical systems.
FSI offers custom maintenance software (CMS) designed specifically for hospital maintenance teams by former hospital facility professionals. With it, SSM and more than 800 other organizations are able to monitor their facility assets in real-time, gaining visibility into inventory levels and asset histories.
“Prior to FSI, we were using maybe 10 different CMMS products,” said David Fox, Regional Director, Plant Operations at SSM. “To get rid of all those disparate systems and installing just one was huge. Just for reporting alone, being able to show apples to apples across the board, is in and of itself immeasurable.”
David manages about half of the SSM portfolio, with a department of about 300 people and a maintenance budget of $100 million. Using CMS, he’s able to design and execute preventive maintenance plans, work order fulfillment, and asset utilization to meet compliance requirements and drive a healthy ROI.
“We looked at three different CMMS systems,” recalled David. “There were some that had so many bells and whistles that you really didn’t need. I call them bloatware. FSI just made sense. Its ease of use, the look and feel, and what you were able to do with it. It’s designed to do certain things in certain ways—optimally.
“We did an ROI and cost-benefit analysis in the transition to CMS. There was definitely a monetary gain just by transitioning to a single CMMS, getting rid of all those other contracts and licenses and all of that stuff. Plus, their support model is probably one of the better ones I’ve seen, and I’ve been working with CMMS systems for 20 years.”
David considers anyone within his facilities’ walls to be his client—from the doctors in operating rooms to patients in waiting rooms. It’s his job to make sure that nobody has to call on his team. CMS helps make that possible.
“There are a lot of things you can do with CMS, from corrective and preventive maintenance to hot work requisitions and compliance reports,” David explains. “Some of the work we’ve had to do just for COVID is amazing to me. With the flexibility of FSI's CMMS, we were able to manage and control certain areas in the hospital to meet heating, cooling and air demands in others.
“The other thing is that there are a number of add-ons that integrate with CMS. And they’re all great pieces of software. CMS View shows floor plans, and CMS rounding for compliance. They make the solution incredibly flexible rather than just being a standalone. CMS is very versatile.”
“I've gotten a lot of good feedback from my team that it’s very easy to use, the things you can do with it. You can be fairly creative in solutioning. I think it’s a good product. I think it sells itself when you’re really looking at it. I know it’s made my work a lot easier.”