OREANDA-NEWS. February 18, 2016. Both Saint Anthony Hospital in Chicago and Cookeville Regional Medical Center (CRMC) in Tennessee have renewed their healthcare IT services contracts with McKesson, confirming the ongoing value that these diverse healthcare organizations experience through their managed services business relationship with the company.

Saint Anthony Hospital is a 151-bed independent, faith-based nonprofit community hospital in the heart of Chicago’s southwest side. The hospital has been a McKesson customer since 2008 and first signed with the company for IT outsourcing services in 2011. Over the course of the initial five year agreement, the hospital came to appreciate the flexibility and expertise of the McKesson team, led by Mark Jennings, the McKesson site director services as the hospital’s VP and CIO. The decision to renew was based on high levels of customer satisfaction and McKesson’s willingness to customize services provided to meet Saint Anthony Hospital’s unique needs. For example, as part of this renewal, McKesson will provide quarterly end-user training to various groups designated by the hospital each quarter.

The McKesson IT Outsourcing (ITO) team will also play a role in planning the technical infrastructure for a new Saint Anthony Hospital campus targeted for completion in 2019. “Our relationship with the McKesson IT Outsourcing team is hand-in-glove,” said Guy A. Medaglia, president and CEO for Saint Anthony Hospital. “McKesson is part of the Saint Anthony Hospital family.”

CRMC is a 247-bed hospital serving communities in the largely rural Upper Cumberland area of middle Tennessee. McKesson provides resources and leadership to help CRMC manage the rapid growth and complexity of its hospital IT systems, while helping to address regulatory requirements and providing overall application support. The hospital originally signed with McKesson for full IT outsourcing in 1999 because of McKesson’s focus on the customer experience. When their existing contract came up for renewal, the leadership team at CRMC did not hesitate to continue the organization’s long standing agreement with McKesson.

“When we were converting computer systems in 1999, McKesson IT Outsourcing brought the expertise needed to support a successful conversion,” noted Paul Korth, chief executive officer for CRMC. “Today, the partnership continues to support CRMC needs by alleviating our challenge with staffing expert support. This has been the biggest asset to our agreement.”

 Community hospitals, like Saint Anthony Hospital and CRMC, are often challenged to recruit and retain top IT talent. With McKesson’s ITO services, these organizations have the technical knowledge and leadership they need to effectively support their IT systems. Additionally, by depending on a trusted healthcare IT services provider such as McKesson, hospitals can achieve greater predictability of costs and reduced technology risk as their needs evolve.

“These contract extensions are evidence of the value that our ITO services provide,” said Nimesh Shah, president of McKesson Enterprise Information Solutions. “Our customers have told us that they have an exceptionally high degree of trust in the expertise and integrity of the McKesson teams working side by side with them to achieve their goals. And through this trust they gain peace of mind, knowing they can focus on their core competency, which is providing excellent patient care.”

To learn more about McKesson’s broad range of managed services offerings, visit Booth #4002 at HIMSS16 in Las Vegas, Feb. 29-March 4. McKesson will showcase Better Health 2020™ solutions which support the full scope of care delivery processes, from patient access management through clinical assessment, documentation and treatment, to billing, financial and supply chain management.

About Saint Anthony Hospital

For more than a century, Saint Anthony Hospital has served more than 400,000 residents on Chicago’s West and Southwest Sides. Saint Anthony Hospital is committed to providing quality health and wellness services, as well as a wide variety of free bilingual community health education and outreach programs. Saint Anthony Hospital staff work with community-based organizations, schools, parishes and other agencies to offer health education, early childhood and mental health services. For more information, visit www.SAHChicago.org.

About Cookeville Regional Medical Center

Cookeville’s public hospital began as a 15-bed private clinic built by a local surgeon just off the town square in 1921. Now, more than 60 years later, Cookeville Regional Medical Center employs a staff of more than 2,000, has more than 200 on its active and courtesy medical staffs, and is a national award-winning, state-of-the-art regional medical center that serves the entire 14-county Upper Cumberland region in middle Tennessee. For more information, visit www.crmchealth.org/.

About McKesson Corporation

McKesson Corporation, currently ranked 11th on the FORTUNE 500, is a healthcare services and information technology company dedicated to making the business of healthcare run better. McKesson partners with payers, hospitals, physician offices, pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies and others across the spectrum of care to build healthier organizations that deliver better care to patients in every setting. McKesson helps its customers improve their financial, operational, and clinical performance with solutions that include pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management, healthcare information technology, and business and clinical services. For more information, visit www.mckesson.com.