Baptist Memorial Health Care will use the Lawson application to automate performance management and simplify compliance with JCAHO standards

Lawson Software today announced that Baptist Memorial Health Care licensed Lawson Performance Management for Healthcare in Lawson's second quarter of fiscal 2007, which ended Nov. 30, 2006. The application will help the integrated health network automate manual performance management processes, reduce operational costs and more easily comply with requirements mandated by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).

Baptist Memorial Health Care is one of the nation's largest integrated health networks with more than 11,800 employees. It operates 14 hospitals in western Tennessee and northern Mississippi in addition to minor medical centers, outpatient centers and an education system. An existing Lawson Enterprise Financial management, Human Capital Management and Supply Chain Management customer, Baptist Memorial will roll out the new application in several phases, starting with nursing staff in June 2007.

"Relying on paper-based processes to track competency assessments and performance appraisals was too time-consuming and costly for our geographically dispersed organization. We needed a faster, simpler way to manage HR tasks and Joint Commission reporting," said Jerry Brantley, chief information officer and vice president for Baptist Memorial. "Lawson will help us automate performance management and quickly respond to 'spot audits' so HR staff can focus on recruiting and retaining highly qualified nurses and technicians."

Specifically, Lawson Performance Management for Healthcare will help Baptist Memorial manage its performance appraisal processes within one centralized system that supports the entire performance management and reporting process -- from job descriptions and performance appraisals to competency assessments and policy reviews. The Web-based application also will support reporting requirements under JCAHO standards, allowing Baptist Memorial to quickly locate and easily reproduce critical documentation required for JCAHO audits.

In addition to helping Baptist Memorial improve staff productivity, lower HR administrative costs and meet compliance standards, the Lawson application also will help the health network meet its internal staff reporting, retention and recruitment goals.

"Lawson Performance Management for Healthcare exemplifies our strategy of continuing to provide applications that address healthcare-specific business challenges yet are easy to deploy and use," said Stacey Hicks, healthcare marketing director, Lawson Software. "This solution helps our healthcare customers efficiently manage the performance appraisal and competency assessment processes so they have more time to focus on enhancing staff performance, recruiting and retention."

Lawson serves more than 500 healthcare industry customers representing more than 4,500 facilities, including eight of the top 10 integrated delivery networks. The company also serves managed care systems, academic medical centers, hospitals, clinics, physician group practices, home healthcare, long-term care and other health services enterprises. Lawson solutions help healthcare organizations manage their business so they can focus on their patients, automate and streamline materials management for a better bottom line, and overcome the challenges of the labor shortage.