Healthcare organizations are no different than most large corporations. Running them efficiently means putting in place a financial information system (FIS) that operates effectively on all levels, from individual departments to the corporate office. When an organization grows, especially through acquisitions, coordinating these systems across the enterprise is crucial.

The problem in healthcare, however, is that the best-of-breed approach taken by many institutions has created a world of disparate systems that require interfacing with other hospital systems. This can be a daunting task within a single hospital, let alone among a dozen facilities owned or operated by a parent company.

But things are beginning to change. Large healthcare organizations, and some vendors, have realized that financial information systems can no longer be relegated to back-office status. Their importance in patient billing, claims processing, materials management and even strategic planning requires that standardized business applications be accessible to key personnel across the entire enterprise, whether that means one hospital or a dozen.

In the case of St. Vincent Health in Indianapolis, that meant a network of 16 hospitals. For Orlando Regional Healthcare in Orlando, Fla., a total of seven facilities needed to be linked. Each organization’s decision to choose a single, integrated FIS that could be rolled out at each institution not only improved overall efficiencies, but also provided the flexibility necessary to support future growth.