VITAS uses ServiceNow to improve the patient and employee experiences

Exploring new possibilities for patient care

VITAS brings peace of mind to hospice care patients and their families
The goal of hospice care is to preserve the quality of life for patients who have a limited time to live. The objective of IT transformation is to accelerate processes and improve service delivery. For VITAS Healthcare, a leader in hospice care since 1978, IT transformation is a catalyst for giving precious time back to employees so they can focus on what matters most: providing human, collaborative, and efficient interactions among staff, patients, and families.

VITAS is working with trusted partner ServiceNow to transform not just IT, but also hospice care. By modernizing internal processes, improving the patient experience, and exploring new field service capabilities, VITAS is delivering something no one expected from IT transformation: peace of mind.

ServiceNow provides flexibility and visibility for VITAS to track assets and streamline IT for its largely mobile workforce
VITAS started working with ServiceNow several years ago when the company needed to bring order and consistency to its asset management and other IT processes.

“We have 12,000 employees and 8,000 of them are mobile—working in patients’ homes or medical facilities—so tracking their mobile devices is extremely important,” says Naresh Samlal, Director of Mobility and Process Automation, VITAS. “But, two years ago, we couldn’t produce a report about who had which device. We were losing a lot of money on carrier bills because we had no documentation, and we had a high loss rate for devices that were reported missing or stolen.”

“ServiceNow gave us two critical things for IT service management: flexibility and visibility,” explains Naresh. “The platform brought order and consistency—not just to asset management, but to other processes—and gave us a level of visibility we’d never experienced before.”

VITAS expands its use of ServiceNow after saving $70K in one month and reducing loss rate to 6%
By implementing the Now Platform, VITAS immediately began saving on carrier costs and lost devices. “We recovered $70,000 in just one month on our carrier bill, and our loss rate is down to just over six percent,” Naresh says.

Based on the success of ServiceNow in cutting costs and improving efficiency, VITAS expanded the use of the platform into service management, replacing an antiquated Remedy solution. “We saw that the same capabilities that were giving us great results in ITSM could easily extend to other areas of our business,” says Patrick Hale, CIO, VITAS.

VITAS engages with ServiceNow Inspire to explore new possibilities for patient care
Today, Patrick and Naresh are looking for fresh ideas to take VITAS patient care to a higher level. To explore the options, VITAS enlisted the help of ServiceNow Inspire, an executive advisory program made up of former CIOs and industry consultants.

The ServiceNow team conducted workshops with VITAS executives to discuss the company’s priorities and how to translate them into a transformation journey focused on optimizing the patient experience.

VITAS extends and automates field service functions on mobile devices, improving productivity and efficiency
The meetings produced multiple ideas for improving internal excellence. One of these was mobilizing field service management.

At VITAS, field service is typically a manual process that involves significant paperwork. When nurses visit prospective new in-home patients, they must bring documents for patient assessments, admissions information, and more.

VITAS saw an opportunity to dramatically improve the ease and efficiency of field service tasks by allowing them to be performed on mobile devices. VITAS is now exploring opportunities for digitizing, automating, and mobilizing many aspects of field service. The goal is to make it easy for VITAS to create mobile field services that are simple to access and use.

Accelerating the onboarding process for new patients is just one example of what’s possible. Mobile field service innovations could allow VITAS to take in more patients in less time, improve the experience for all stakeholders—thereby enhancing the company’s reputation—and increase the job satisfaction of nurses and clinicians. In an industry where employee turnover rates can run exceptionally high, staff satisfaction is a critical business advantage.

ServiceNow is critical for VITAS to achieve its business transformation goals and improve patient care
Much has changed since VITAS launched its IT transformation initiative, but expectations for future results remain high. 

“We started out thinking of ServiceNow as a ticketing system,” explains Patrick. “But today, we see it as the backbone of our transformation strategy. It’s a platform with infinite possibilities—not just for our business, but for improving patient care.“

He continues, “The reality is we’re doing far more than improving our internal operations. We’re creating a virtuous cycle. More efficient staff means higher quality care and more time for family members to spend with their loved ones. There’s no metric that adequately captures that sort of value.”