CentraCare Case Study

CentraCare is one of the largest healthcare systems in Minnesota and serves its community with the latest advancements in care, technology and treatment. With a complex supply chain that touches all hospital processes, CentraCare leadership looked to integrate their systems to enable accurate supply chain mechanisms and a consistent reporting structure throughout their health care system. To accomplish that goal, Oracle Cloud was chosen to replace their outdated ERP. “We wanted a solution that was reputable and that could perform all our supply chain activities. Oracle Cloud is a key player in the healthcare environment,” said Ross Gunderson, Director of Support Services 

RF-SMART Supplements Oracle 

Having selected Oracle Cloud, RF-SMART was chosen as their mobile materials management solution because it is tailored to meet the needs of healthcare providers with real-time inventory visibility and control. “We use Oracle Cloud for procurement, self-service requisitions and all inventory functions across all our sites. RF-SMART supplements Oracle,” said Ross. CentraCare chose RF-SMART based on other customers recommendations and the current and planned functionality. 

 

CentraCare uses RF-SMART for receiving, dock logging, picking, replenishment of PAR locations and delivery. “RF-SMART Delivery functionality gives us end-to-end chain of custody tracking,” said Ross. From the handheld devices, CentraCare employees can look up items, search quantities on hand and find bin locations, saving time. Multi-line receiving via RF-SMART has increased the number of products they are able to receive, increasing efficiency.  

RF-SMART has brought speed and accuracy to picking. Employees are prompted along every step of the picking process via the intuitive RF-SMART interface on the handheld devices. Picks are accurate because RF-SMART prompts employees to scan items as they are picked. “RF-SMART is very quick on the handheld devices and it ensures we are accurate,” said Laura Kerkvliet, Manager of Logistics Operations. 

RF-SMART is also improving efficiency at CentraCare. Before using RF-SMART, managing bulk quantities was very expensive. But by moving to RF-SMART and a Kanban, two- bin system, CentraCare is stocking less inventory. Employees scan items and additional supplies are ordered daily to keep bins replenished. RF-SMART is more efficient than their previous system because employees only need to scan each bin – there is no manual adjustments to be made. “RF-SMART is very fast and it’s made us very efficient,” said Diana Roda, Regional Director.   

The biggest benefit RF-SMART has brought to CentraCare is consistency. “With RF-SMART, every site is on the same platform and uses the same functionality,” said Ross. This has made data management and trouble-shooting extremely easy.  

Easy to Learn, Easy to Use 

CentraCare has benefitted from the ease of use of RF-SMART – from implementation to training to daily use. “RF-SMART is so reliable, and go-live was extremely smooth,” said Ross. RF-SMART was very easy to train the front-line staff because it is so intuitive. The CentraCare staff easily could follow the hierarchy of workflows and because all items are labeled and scanned, employees always knew what to do. “The RF-SMART interface and refresh rates are very fast,” said Ross – so employees are never frustrated by clunky software. “RF-SMART is a lot easier for our staff.” 

Not only is training users easy, but the administration side has also been easy for Ross. Because RF-SMART provides tools to configure, the CentraCare team can create custom reports or change workflows to suit their needs.  “I really like that RF-SMART lets me make the changes I need, without relying on the vendor,” said Ross.  

Advantageous Partnership  

Because RF-SMART caters specifically to inventory functionality, CentraCare has had more functionality gains in months using RF-SMART than they did after years on their old systems. “The feedback from our team is that they are very satisfied because RF-SMART is very reliable,” said Ross. Ross is also very satisfied with the customer “extras” offered by RF-SMART. One of the most beneficial is the monthly user group, where customers share ideas for new functionality to ease pain points and best practices on how to use current RF-SMART functionality. “We find a lot of value in learning from other RF-SMART customers,” said Ross.  

Perhaps what Ross and the CentraCare team value most is the partnership between their organization and RF-SMART. “The people at RF-SMART place a very high value on the voice of the customer. They listen very closely to our experience,” said Ross. From identifying pain points to brainstorming future enhancements, it is obvious to Ross that the RF-SMART team is catering the solution to healthcare. “Our collaborative partnership is allowing us to break barriers with other processes, giving us more avenues to explore,” said Ross. “It’s their openness to my input and the specific way they are designing their solution to align with the needs of healthcare companies that excites me the most.” 

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“It is the specific way RF-SMART is designing their solution to align with the needs of healthcare companies that excites me the most.”

Read how CentraCare uses RF-SMART for receiving, dock logging, picking, replenishment of PAR locations and delivery.

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