customer story
Updated: May 22nd, 2024
Published: May 20th, 2024
Updated: May 22nd, 2024
Published: May 20th, 2024
About the Customer
As a Joint Commission-accredited, dual diagnosis adult substance abuse treatment program, Bridges of Hope provides a comprehensive and integrated approach to address substance use and mental health disorders.
Challenge
The primary driver for purchasing HealthStream’s Policy Manager, according to Michael Whitlock, Executive Director at the facility, was to assist in accessible policy storage as well as accomplishing a read acknowledgement task for employees. Having made the transition from compliance to executive director only a few months prior, Whitlock recognized the work needed to properly implement the program so that it would be utilized to its fullest. Many policies were understandably outdated, because they had been previously using manual binders and spreadsheets – modernization of the process was key.
Solution
During the transition, the team had lots of questions, but they also knew the old system wasn’t working for them anymore, so they were very open to the change. Whitlock feels the ability to build and customize the program from the ground up made a huge difference, because they were able to show proof of concept and make changes as needed. As a result, the process was very smooth. Whitlock credited the support from HealthStream in terms of training as very helpful.
Results
The key outcome achieved was modernization of the entire process. By switching to an electronic process, Whitlock said the facility achieved three major goals: Switching policies to electronic format for easy editing, allowing for read acknowledgement of policies, and dramatically reducing timelines for making changes or preparing for assessments. Key features noted as the most helpful include email notifications as a “great first prompt” for assessment work, a robust notes section that helps the team keep track of what’s been reviewed, and highly detailed reports.
"This is an amazing product, it’s definitely helped a lot in the way we’ve implemented policy, and there’s enough freedom [within the program] that it’s helped me in other areas for compliance, like tracking some of our accreditation requirements."
Michael Whitlock, Executive Director, Bridges of Hope