Labor costs make up 50 to 70% of the average hospital’s operating budget. Therefore, it’s critical to effectively manage that expense and, in addition, retain the scarce licensed professionals needed to ensure high quality and satisfactory patient outcomes. McKesson’s workforce management suite helps hospitals manage their human resources, provide the work-life balance employees expect, effectively fill shifts outside normal scheduling, and even to prepare for Magnet designation. We spoke to Perry Russoniello, RN, BSN, CCRN, vice president and solution line manager for McKesson workforce management solution suite.

I admit that I wasn’t familiar with Awarix until industry expert Jon Phillips told me that McKesson’s acquisition of the company was potentially the most impactful of all the high-profile transactions of 2007. I see why: every hospital has throughput, handoff, and caregiver communications problems that the company’s technology can help solve. The ROI is apparently fast, even without considering what hospitals might otherwise spend to expand physical facilities to address patient backlog problems. We spoke to Paul Gartman of McKesson, who has product responsibilities for what is now called Horizon Enterprise Visibility™.