ACL Success Story – Healthcare – Memorial Healthcare System

2011-05-01

Memorial Healthcare System

“We are looking forward to expanding the use of continuous monitoring solutions and achieving similar results in other critical business areas.”

Robert Gutholc, Director Financial Controls, Memorial Healthcare System

Memorial Healthcare System is a leading healthcare provider, with six hospitals and multiple outpatient facilities including the flagship Memorial Regional Hospital and the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. In a project directed by the Finance department, Memorial implemented continuous monitoring in their Purchase-to-Payment cycle. In just three months, the team is on track to meet its projected ROI and has identified key areas for controls enhancement, procedural improvements and cost savings.

Company Overview

For over 50 years, Memorial Healthcare System has been providing high quality healthcare services to the residents of South Florida. Facilities include six hospitals and multiple outpatient locations and high profile centers such as the Joe DiMaggio Children ’s Hospital and Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood. Memorial provides a comprehensive array of health services and is one of the largest employers in Broward County, with more than 10,000 employees. Memorial’s facilities have earned multiple awards, including honors for South Florida’s best hospitals, quality care leadership, 100 Most Wired Hospitals and Health Systems, best nursing staff and best pediatric hospital.

Memorial Healthcare System uses ACL continuous monitoring in their Purchase-to-Payment cycle. The solution is designed according to the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) framework. The COSO framework is recognised as the internal controls standard for supporting Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 compliance.

While currently not subject to the provisions of SOX, Memorial’s management acknowledges the applicability of the principles behind SOX for the institution.

Enhancing business procedures and internal controls

The Memorial Healthcare System is committed to achieving the highest standards of financial governance and stewardship. As such, the CFO and Director of Financial Controls began a search for monitoring solutions that would help evaluate and strengthen critical business processes.

Continuous monitoring

This ongoing project quickly enabled the team to identify key areas for procedural and operational improvements. Even within a short timeframe, Memorial pinpointed more than £300,000 in potentially recoverable payments that had occurred over the past three years.

Continuous monitoring provides increased visibility into higher risk areas of the business, early warnings to management, and enables real-time evaluation of all transactions.

Additionally, the CFO and Director of Finance plan to expand the use of ACL solutions to other process areas, including General Ledger and Payroll.

Three months after Memorial Healthcare launched its continuous monitoring project with ACL’s powerful business analytics, the organisation has been able to:

• Enhance the control environment and isolate procedural improvements that will boost efficiency and visibility
• Eliminate third-party audit commissions and reduce costs