“At CHG, we believe that each of us is in the business of saving lives. If a hospital doesn’t have a neurosurgeon and a patient is in critical need, CHG can remedy that. We look for partners truly committed to assisting us in fulfilling this vision and found Rimini Street to be such a company.”

— Brad Spackman, IT Manager, CHG Healthcare

The healthcare industry is enduring a seismic evolution, with new pressures for agility, accessibility, and convenience upending traditional notions of how care should be delivered. More than four decades ago, these attributes were already being pioneered by CHG Healthcare. The company was founded with a mission to reimagine what quality care could look like.

Today, the nation’s largest privately held healthcare staffing company and award-winning employer provides temporary and permanent placement of physicians, nurses, and allied health professionals. By extension, CHG also helps enhance, extend, and save the lives of 25 million patients annually.

Along the way, CHG moved from relying on manpower to address business challenges to leveraging innovative technologies to streamline processes and improve experiences along the entire healthcare staffing continuum.

A Prescription for Change

A notable example of how CHG continues to differentiate itself in the healthcare staffing market has been its complete operational transformation using digital tools and services to complement its family of brands. These enhancements let hospital systems easily track and manage their staffing efforts and help medical professionals quickly obtain temporary assignments.

CHG’s adoption of digital technology is rooted in creating a better customer and employee experience. The company’s technology-centric efforts enable practitioners and facilities to focus on what matters most — delivering quality patient care.

For a company focused on leveraging technological innovation to enhance its performance, it may seem ironic that CHG has been running on JD Edwards since its inception in 1979. Brad Spackman, IT manager, revealed, “We invest where technology can make the biggest impact. JDE has been the core backbone of our business for over 40 years. Everything touches JDE, and JDE touches everything.”

Catharine Reeder, senior applications support analyst and JDE expert, is tasked with the day-to-day administration of the business-critical platform. She explained some of the challenges, “It’s always tough to find talented people interested in working on any aging legacy system. As we continued to customize JDE, we got to the point where Oracle was no longer proficient at helping us resolve issues. When Oracle finally dropped coverage for our JDE version, we turned to an independent, third-party provider to get the support CHG required.”

Today and Tomorrow

Recognizing that they will eventually move off the aging JDE platform, Spackman and Reeder need to keep everything working effectively and must also strategize around the optimal migration path. Reeder elaborated, “We found a partner that was able to provide the daily operational support we needed, and that in parallel could also collaborate to ensure that we were making informed business decisions to set ourselves up for success as — and when — we decide to make the move to a new system.”

Reeder continued, “The partnership we have in place today is such a stark contrast to the support we used to receive from Oracle, where you’re just a number. We were frequently told that we couldn’t get an issue resolved because we had a customized deployment. It just wasn’t acceptable.”

She added, “We now have a consistent team with our third-party support provider that really understands our business. The consultants break down complex issues and develop effective solutions because they know our environment and how we use the system. They offer ideas that encompass both technical considerations and business implications, so we can make better decisions. Together we’ve been able to enhance processes and deliver a better user experience.”

Rimini Street: Healthy Partner, Thriving Partnership

Spackman observed, “At CHG, we believe that each of us is in the business of saving lives. If a hospital doesn’t have a neurosurgeon and a patient is in critical need, CHG can remedy that. We look for partners truly committed to assisting us in fulfilling this vision and found Rimini Street to be such a company.”

He continued, “The relationship has now reached the point where multiple groups across CHG routinely ask for Rimini Street to be involved in providing input on new projects or outstanding issues; Rimini Street has rightfully earned that level of respect.”

The partnership with Rimini Street also has enabled CHG to stay compliant with trade and government mandates. “We don’t even have to ask — all the applicable tax, legal, and regulatory updates are proactively applied to ensure that we are always current,” enthused Reeder. “Our benefits team, our tax team, our payroll team — they all just love Rimini Street!”

Spackman commented, “We strive to ensure that everyone in our organization can connect their role to our ultimate goal of impacting communities and providers in a positive way. Rimini Street has a big responsibility in helping us achieve that objective. For example, if we don’t pay a provider, a ruined relationship creates an unfilled position, and that can have a direct impact on a patient’s life.”

Reeder summarized, “We’ve been nothing but impressed with the level of professionalism, communication, technical skill, and prowess we receive. Rimini Street has created a partnership of immense trust. We wouldn’t be anywhere near as effective without them.”