HR Services Innovation Empowers Nebraska Methodist Health System

The Opportunity

Founded in 1982 to serve urban and rural communities in its home state of Nebraska, Nebraska Methodist Health System (NMHS) is the most recent incarnation of a facility network that has served Nebraskans for more than 120 years. As a not-for-profit healthcare provider comprising 3 hospitals and two dozen clinics, NMHS is committed to treating each patient and colleague as they would a family member. This extraordinary level of care and service has resulted in a "culture of competence" that allows NHMS to compete effectively against much more prominent players in the healthcare ecosystem.

Despite its relatively small size, Nebraska Methodist Health System has grown exponentially recently. From 21.1% of its local market share in 2014, the organization commanded a 26.6% share in 2019[1] – and that share has likely grown since. This success has mainly come through strategic investments in the makeup of its patient care services and the enabling systems that make that care possible.

As the organization sought to better fulfill one of its core missions – namely to "work as one…demonstrate respect and concern for everyone, value each individual as an equal team member, and support professional growth and autonomy" – the NMHS team realized that its legacy processes for Human Resources Services Delivery were no longer up to the challenge.

The Approach

Like many mature organizations, NMHS has long-standing investments in HRIS and enterprise resource planning solutions, including Infor Lawson. While these investments worked well for managing core HR requirements like compensation and benefits administration, they needed to provide a viable platform of action for resolving more frequently occurring requests. The struggles brought about by the COVID pandemic only highlighted a more long-standing requirement around more timely, interactive, available HR services to support the organization's critical provider and back-office support teams.

As the NMHS team looked for options, ServiceNow emerged as a standout and thought leader in HR Services Delivery. The platform's ability to empower colleagues with self-service options like knowledgebases and virtual agents meant that help was available 24 hours a day on virtually any device. Case management features meant that when self-service options were inadequate for the request, support could be requested and predictably, with a quick and accurate resolution, thanks to automated routing of requests to the most qualified resources. Finally, integration with the organization's existing Infor Lawson system meant that the Employee Experience solution could automatically access and update HCM "system of record" information at the right points in the workflow process.

Critically for the organization's success, the investment in ServiceNow HRSD was supported by INRY's expertise in delivering the solution to many of the world's leading healthcare providers. As the co-developer of the HRSD solution in 2013 and the 2022 Global Partner Award Winner for Healthcare, INRY was the ideal partner to help Nebraska Methodist Health System take this critical step on behalf of its teammates.

The Rewards

The healthcare industry is tough, with demanding workloads and stress levels that few people even begin to understand. By working alongside INRY and ServiceNow to deploy a next-generation HR Services Delivery solution, NMHS has demonstrated to its colleagues that their hard work is appreciated and supported by a team of HR professionals committed to their success and professional growth.

Some of the benefits realized by NMHS as part of this HRSD transformation include the following:

• Improved employee satisfaction with their level of HR services support thanks to a portal that makes it easy to access the latest HR services information, request help, and get visibility on the status of existing requests.
• Access to a platform that can meet more complex HR services needs around streamlined employee onboarding, transitions (transfers, promotions), offboarding, and alumni engagement. NMHS's investments in ServiceNow HRSD give it access to capabilities that will allow it to better acquire, engage, and retain the best talent to support its continued growth.
• Improved patient care thanks to the organization's improved HR services, which reduce the attrition rate and ensure that the NMHS team is fully equipped to provide superb patient outcomes.

In the years to come, the investments in innovation made by Nebraska Methodist Health System in ServiceNow platform technology and INRY services will continue to bear fruit. As the organization enhances its Employee Experience in the coming years, its ServiceNow HRSD solution will become an even more valuable asset in fulfilling its mission to improve the health of their Nebraska communities in how they care, educate, and innovate.