Alfred Health

Challenge

Recognised as one of Australia’s leading health service providers in Victoria, Alfred Health has long upheld a culture that is committed to progress and innovation. In their ongoing efforts to deliver world class healthcare services, Alfred Health sought to identify opportunities to streamline the print fleet and its management and drive greater efficiencies throughout the organisation.

Spread across several locations in Metropolitan Victoria, the print and copy fleets within each of the sites were managed by separate companies under a multi-vendor strategy. The result was two disparate fleets with little control and visibility over assets, print behaviour and costs.

Alfred Health’s print fleet consisted of Lexmark devices and service warranty, without a proper Managed Print Service. Front line staff could openly order devices and with a reactive, warranty-based service model, they had to arrange for services and products to be delivered once alerted by the products themselves.

The copier fleet was sourced from a separate vendor under a lease agreement with a managed service click charge. Broad access to colour capable copiers proved a costly approach with colour printing comprising around 10% of total pages printed and 60% of total expenditure each month; far in excess of best practice in the healthcare industry.

Devices were commonly duplicated. Lexmark printers were utilised to print key labels on complex media whilst a separate copier was purchased purely for scanning purposes. On average Alfred Health supported 1 device for just 8 employees. Further, staff access to openly order consumables resulted in excessive costs for duplicate and incorrectly ordered items and provided no visibility of stock levels across any of the organisation’s sites.

In assessing the state of play, Alfred Health’s greatest challenge was the absence of a centralised, proactive, automated MPS across both its print and copy fleet, that would otherwise save time and costs for the wider organisation, freeing front line staff to focus solely on driving greater outcomes for their patients.

Solution

Lexmark began the review process by delivering a comprehensive MPS assessment of Alfred Health’s printing environment, print behaviours and key requirements of its staff to identify opportunities to create transformational change.

Colour usage and that of larger format A3 was measured against business-critical demand. Internal processes for decentralised commissioning of devices and supplies ordering were assessed against best practices experienced by hospitals using Lexmark Managed Print Services worldwide. The extensive amount of data available from Alfred Health and Lexmark’s similar customers worldwide helped reveal exactly the right opportunities to pursue to drive impactful change.

Lexmark then designed and implemented a streamlined and consolidated output environment, based on a comprehensive set of deployment principles developed specifically for hospitals, which have previously been employed with enormous success. Crucially, Lexmark’s hospital grade, robust product line offers complex media capabilities allowing Alfred Health staff to print an array of patient labels and scan records for access across the organisation using the same device. Mono printers previously used were replaced with MFPs, and the redundant colour copiers and standalone fax machines were rationalised out of the fleet.

Working in unison, Lexmark provided Alfred Health with recommended business rules and output guidelines to provide control to the fleet. Once the right balance was agreed, these guidelines restricted the availability and use of colour where it wasn’t needed, removed duplicated devices, and centralised the decision-making process for ordering equipment and consumables. Today, every device is consistently procured and managed with a leasing arrangement and ongoing click charge, to cover maintenance and supply requirements as they evolve.

Above all, both Lexmark and Alfred Health were committed to executing a disciplined governance framework, monitored and measured every month.

Results

Combining data driven insights and industry best practice solutions, Lexmark created a bespoke solution for Alfred Health that delivered results above and beyond an impressive set of cost efficiencies. Overall the total fleet across Victoria was reduced from 1,134 devices to just 380, or a 1 device to 24 employee ratio. 272 different models previously been utilised throughout the organisation was simplified with just 21 printer and MFP models.

Colour capable devices were restricted to areas with specific business requirements. 2% of the new fleet offered colour, compared with over 20% previously. Colour usage dropped from 10% to 0.3% of the total pages printed across the company, aligning with global best practice in the healthcare vertical.

Alfred Health has long been acclaimed for providing Australia with world class services, training and innovation across the health sector. Partnering with Lexmark to streamline its fleet via a well-managed MPS with more proactive support, Alfred Health was able to realise over $2.8M in savings over the life of the contract.

Whilst this figure speaks volumes, it is the ability of Alfred Health’s staff to focus solely on providing quality patient care and the opportunity for these funds and resources to be reinvested back into the future of the organisation and of Australians, that speaks loudest.