DIRECTORS DESK ASPIRUS CASE STUDY

Aspirus is a non-profit, community-directed health system based in Wausau, Wisconsin. With more than 6,000 employees, Aspirus serves people in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan through an extensive hospital and clinic network, home health & hospice care, pharmacies, critical care, medical goods, nursing homes, a philanthropic & research foundation, and an affiliated physician network.

DIRECTORS DESK SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS
Aspirus, Inc. has experienced significant growth over the past decade, which resulted in the addition of numerous subsidiary boards of directors and supporting committees. The volume of board and committee packets, as well as overall communication with the various boards and committees, became overwhelming to manage. Additionally, the increased pace of business necessitated a quicker and more reliable mode of communication than the standard paper and postal service, and an option more secure than email.

CHALLENGE
Sheila Rovang, Assistant to the CEO and Administrative Team Leader at Aspirus, Inc., is responsible for coordinating the activities of the Aspirus, Inc. board of directors, as well as providing oversight for the various subsidiary corporations’ boards and committees. Sheila stated, “Prior to Directors Desk, our board packet process was very manual and time consuming.” Aside from the costs involved in creating and shipping board and committee books, which often exceeded 200 pages, the time Sheila and the other executive assistants previously spent preparing materials was becoming more and more exhaustive. The actual assembly of the board books required a full day and multiple staff, to copy, insert index tabs, bind and ship. Books then had to be disassembled and destroyed following each meeting.

The biggest issue with paper books was the inability to make last-minute additions, corrections, and deletions to the packets. Sheila stated “What we ship out on one day could easily be outdated by the next. The paper process simply can’t keep up in today’s fast-changing health care business world.”

Aspirus needed to find a solution that would streamline processes, reduce costs, and provide secure accessibility to its directors, administrators, and staff.


THE SOLUTION
While attending a conference in 2008, Sheila discovered Directors Desk. She was most impressed by its ease of use, ability to work on mobile devices, high level of security, and cost effectiveness. After a thorough internal review and evaluating competing solutions, she easily obtained approval from her senior executive team and board of directors.

“Directors Desk has revolutionized how we communicate with our boards and committees,” stated Sheila. “My board members really like the flexibility Directors Desk offers them. They can decide exactly how and when they want to utilize it. If they prefer paper packets, they can easily print their packet with one click. From my perspective, I really appreciate the control Directors Desk gives me over establishing levels of access for my board members, as well as our administrative staff. ”

One of Sheila’s favorite features, the survey tool, allows her to easily generate electronic questionnaires and see the results immediately.

Survey reports automatically compile all the data, providing statistical information and graphical representations with the click of a button. She has also found the attendance tracking feature extremely helpful, not only for tracking meeting attendance, but also for documenting the number of times community board members are on site for Joint Commission requirements.

Based on Sheila’s positive experiences with Directors Desk, other groups at Aspirus have now implemented Directors Desk as well and are realizing benefits of the system as time goes by. The medical staff at Aspirus has even begun using Directors Desk for their medical executive committee meetings, as well as their bylaws/credentials committee.

“Of all the technological programs we’ve implemented over the past several years, I believe Directors Desk has had the most significant positive impact on my job,” says Sheila in regards to how using a board portal has transformed the way she and her colleagues manage board meetings.

Sheila initially chose Directors Desk to increase productivity and efficiency but has also received peace of mind that everyone on her board can receive everything they need, when they need it, regardless of where they are. These are just some of the reasons that Directors Desk is the preferred board portal of many of the nation’s premier healthcare organizations.