API Installs Innovative Employee Scheduling/Staffing System At Several New Sites; Software Offers Healthcare Organizations an Easy Way to Automate Scheduling/Staffing Enterprise-wide.

Business Editors, Health and Medical Writers

HARTFORD, Wis.--(BW HealthWire)--March 15, 2001

Automating Peripherals Inc. (API) announced today that three new customers have implemented the company's ActiveStaffer(R) scheduling/staffing system.

This system simplifies the time-consuming, labor-intensive manual processes involved in scheduling employees, maximizing resources, controlling labor costs and retaining qualified staff.

New customers currently implementing this system include: Saint Joseph's Hospital of Marshfield, Wisconsin; Harris County Hospital District of Houston, Texas; Mercy Hospital of Iowa City, Iowa. These organizations, ranging in size from 1,000 employees to 5,200 employees, are looking to ActiveStaffer to help handle complex staffing issues more efficiently and better automate the scheduling/staffing process. Once implementation is complete, nurse managers will spend less time on scheduling tasks, which frees them up to deal with other employee, departmental and patient issues. Another benefit is that nurse managers can better determine appropriate staffing levels, so less dollars are spent on overtime pay and contract staff.

The Windows(R)-based ActiveStaffer application is easy to use, and quickly adapts to an organization's unique staffing environment. Nurse managers and schedulers can quickly determine the right employee for each position and shift. Staffing rules and policies, including complex holiday and weekend rules, are applied automatically. Healthcare organizations get real-time access to labor information, which helps managers and administrators make better-informed staffing decisions and control labor costs proactively. Easily integrated with time and attendance and payroll systems, ActiveStaffer is a powerful tool to manage costs, improve patient care and staff satisfaction.

Employees will be empowered with the ability to request time off and check work schedules online. Morale is increased because employees know that the organization's automated scheduling system ensures enterprise-wide policy consistencies as well as fairness in scheduling across departments and facilities. This increased morale helps in terms of over-all employee retention.

"ActiveStaffer helps healthcare organizations of all sizes to realize the ultimate goal across the industry -- improved patient care," said Luis Garcia, president and CEO for API. "The long-term objectives for organizations implementing ActiveStaffer are to allow nurse managers and hospital executives overcome time-consuming staffing issues and ultimately provide a higher quality of care at reduced costs."

About API

API is a leading provider of payroll, human resource, time and attendance, education tracking, scheduling/staffing, and access control software for healthcare organizations. Founded in 1982, API has more than 350 installations in the United States, with customers ranging in size from top 10 integrated delivery networks with over 23,000 employees to rural medical centers with 500 employees. The company has a strategic alliance with Microsoft Corporation and is a Microsoft Certified Solution Provider. The company's website address is www.api-wi.com.