Valley Ambulatory

Operating Better through Biometrics

Time-Tracking Software Streamlines & Improves Payroll Accuracy

St. Charles, Illinois-based Valley Ambulatory Surgery Center (VASC) is a premier surgical treatment facility located in Chicago's far South suburbs. As one of the nation's 2,500+ freestanding surgical centers, VASC is designed and staffed to exclusively provide outpatient and ambulatory surgeries.

VASC has over 160 area surgeons on staff and furnishes surgical services for over 1,000 different procedures for both outpatient and more complex surgeries. The center provides surgical services in Gynecology, Ophthalmology, Ear/Nose/Throat, General Surgery, Podiatry, Urology, Pediatric Surgery, Gastroenterology, Orthopedic Surgery, Neurosurgery, Plastic Surgery, Oral Surgery and Dentistry. This modern, state-of-the-art facility offers the latest in medical technology and equipment, and an experienced, highly-trained staff with the objective of providing a safe, high-quality care alternative to hospital- based surgery .

In conjunction with the surgical center, VASC provides post-surgical recovery care at neighboring Valley Medical Inn, a nine -bed facility that opened in 1997. VMI was awarded accreditation from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations in August, 2001 and as an alternative to hospitalization, provides a quality, low-cost alternative for patients who require nursing care, pain management or observation after major surgical procedures, such as: hysterectomy, thyroidectomy, appendectomy, gall bladder surgery, inguinal hernia repair, various plastic surgeries, anterior cervical diskectomy, laminectomy with decompression and total knee replacement. With its "Bed and Breakfast" atmosphere, patients receive quality medical care in a relaxed environment that provides private nursing care, catered meals and hotel quality amenities that reduce stress and speed patient recovery.

In keeping with the organization's objectives of providing the highest quality care, VASC and Valley Medical Inn utilize many of today's technological advancements. These include software solutions towards achieving best practices in clinical care and practice management. Among these is an employee time and attendance application, implemented at both facilities, that monitors and manages employee time and attendance. The biometric software system, made by award-winning Chicago-based developer Count Me In, LLC, was selected to deliver improvements over the timesheet system previously used. The old method required each employee to manually record his/her hours on a paper timesheet form. Forms were submitted for payroll processing at the end of each pay period. But, with some 65 employees at the surgical center and another 20 at the recovery center, Office Manager Judy Cassell says the task imposed staff interference, distracting them for focusing on the core business of providing clinical care.

"The handwritten timesheet process was a tedious, entirely inefficient system," contends Cassell. "Part of our concerns was a high error rate – due to a combination of inadvertent mistakes from employees incorrectly adding up hours." "And," says Cassell, "in some cases, the errors were intentional. Though rare, there were employees who padded their work hours by ‘rounding up' departure times."

Another issue for Cassell was a low level of confidence in accurately translating handwritten data. "There's no sure way to accurately interpret the handwriting for 100 employees. You can't check with everyone every time there's a question about a digit, so you make your best guess," says Cassell. Of equal concern was the even bigger inconvenience of "chasing down employees" who altogether failed to fully complete their timesheet forms. "It was not uncommon to run across blanks on timesheets where employees skipped or forgot to fill in hours. All in all, it was a rare thing to get through the preprocessing end of payroll without a hitch," says Cassell, explaining that even under the best of circumstances, timecard calculation took on average, three hours each pay period.

But, the greatest benefit with Count Me In's Timecard Monitor, says Cassell, "is how easily it lets you pull together comprehensive reports. With a mouse click it compiles employees' regular work hours, as well as their vacation, sick, and personal time. Now, everything I need is right at my fingertips just waiting to be faxed over to our payroll company!"