Benefis Health System Migrates from MEDITECH MOX to Forward Advantage’s FOX
When Benefis Health System decided to upgrade its MEDITECH platform from MAGIC to 6.0, there was concern about losing the MAGIC Office (MOX) e-mail and documentation solution, which was relied heavily upon by staff. Benefis needed an affordable and user-friendly replacement solution provided by a vendor that could migrate all of their MOX data.
Selecting a MOX Replacement
While on MEDITECH MAGIC, all Benefis users had access to MOX for document management and e-mail. However, Benefis’ nonclinical, heavy-mail users required attachments and calendar functionality not supported in MOX Mail. The solution was to have these users also on Microsoft Exchange and Outlook. “When we first learned that MOX wasn’t included with MEDITECH 6.0, our original plan was to convert everyone to Microsoft Exchange and Outlook,” says Tom Hering, manager of information systems at Benefis. “To do this, we learned that we’d have to upgrade our hardware and purchase a minimum of 1,000 licenses, which would cost at least $250,000. We were pleased to learn that Forward Advantage could provide a much more affordable solution and migration strategy.”
The Solution: FOX Document Library and FOX Mail
FOX Document Library contains functionality familiar to MOX users, but it was designed as a robust graphical solution using intuitive icons and a streamlined workflow. FOX users have full, rich-text editing capabilities, along with the ability to move contents by simply dragging and dropping. “People liked the fact that MOX was a straightforward, easy-to-use tool,” says Hering. “FOX Document Library has a similar feel with a familiar MOX workflow and much of the same terminology, such as cabinets and drawers.”
FOX Mail was also designed with the intent to improve workflow and increase accessibility by allowing users to access their mailboxes on any computer with a Web browser and an Internet connection. FOX Mail provides many useful features previously not supported with MOX, such as: attachments, auto-reply, spell check, contacts, tasks, and a calendar. “The solution was designed according to the needs of hospital end-users and contains the functionality they would find most useful in leading e-mail software systems,” says Mark Valutkevich, Vice President of Product Management for Forward Advantage.
A Successful Data Conversion and Training Plan
Two weeks before going live with MEDITECH 6.0, Benefis began performing practice data conversions. During the first week, FOX was made available to end users for internal training and so that they could familiarize themselves with the new system. End users were entirely cut off from MOX at the end of the test week so that all data could be converted and migrated by Forward Advantage over the weekend. More than a million documents and 566 distribution groups were migrated to FOX, which was live the following Monday. Benefis went live with 6.0 four days later.
“It was very important for our staff to feel comfortable with FOX prior to taking away access from MOX,” says Hering. “We made a point to provide staff with enough time to play around with the system and encouraged people to attend training sessions that were offered throughout the day. I would recommend a similar strategy for other organizations looking to migrate from MOX to FOX.”
Integrating FOX Mail with Microsoft Exchange
With FOX Mail, organizations can cut costs by connecting to Outlook with the FOX Mail server, as opposed to Microsoft Exchange. The recommended deployment is for end-users to be on either the FOX server or Microsoft Exchange, not both. However, the solution is able to accommodate situations like that with Benefis, where the organization wanted to keep the setup they previously had with MOX. Currently, all 2500 Benefis users have FOX accounts, including the 1100 on Microsoft Exchange. In this case FOX is able to integrate with Microsoft Exchange so that users with an Outlook account are able to have any FOX Mail messages forwarded directly to Outlook. “The majority of Outlook users have their e-mails forwarded from FOX so they don’t have to look at two different e-mail systems,” says Hering. “However, some people choose to do everything in FOX Mail, because they find it easier to navigate the distribution groups and calendar functions.
A Collaborative Effort
Benefis has been a Forward Advantage customer since purchasing Communication Director in 2005 for reports distribution. Forward Advantage is pleased to have continued this relationship by working with Benefis on its MOX replacement, making the health system one of the first FOX users.
“FOX was a new system at the time, and we needed quite a bit of support from Forward Advantage during implementation, as we were also planning for the 6.0 migration,” says Deejay Robinson, PC LAN support specialist at Benefis. “We appreciated Forward Advantage’s willingness to work with us and to listen to any suggestions we had on fine tuning the solution to meet our needs. I’d feel confident in choosing the solution again if we had the choice to do over.”
“Benefis is committed to being the leading facility in its region, which is demonstrated by its willingness to seek out quality solutions and services to best serve its staff and patient base,” says Charles Williams, vice president of migration and integration services. “We were happy to expand upon our existing relationship with Benefis and look forward to continuing to work with them in the future.”
About Forward Advantage
Since 1993, Forward Advantage has provided solid solutions that integrate seamlessly with healthcare information systems; offering products developed in collaboration with MEDITECH for report distribution, HIE products and services, data migration, and identity management. Forward Advantage has over 1,200 installations worldwide and is in the leading position to provide innovative and cost-effective solutions for MEDITECH customers. More information on Forward Advantage’s product and services can be found at http://www.forwardadvantage.com/.
About Benefis
Benefis Health System serves 225,000 people across an area larger than Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont combined. As a community-owned and-governed healthcare organization, Benefis is driven to provide the highest level of care. Benefis Health System has 500 beds on its two campuses in Great Falls and more than 200 physicians on its medical staff, delivering world-class medical care right in the heart of Montana. It is home to the state’s premier programs for cancer care, pulmonary care, stroke treatment, critical care and bariatrics, just to name a few areas of excellence. http://www.benefis.org/
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