GOOD SAMARITAN HOSPITAL
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

Velos Essentials - Database Manager’s Viewpoint

The following interview was conducted in May 2003 with Ms. Phyllis Skrysak, whose job, among others, is to coordinate the Cardiovascular Registry at Good Samaritan Hospital in the Advocate Health system in Chicago. Good Samaritan was a Summit Vista customer who went with another vendor after Summit and then came back to Velos for quality assurance, patient outcomes and ACC-NCDR and STS registry needs for national benchmarking. Good Samaritan performs over 4,500 heart procedures annually.

Velos: After Summit, you initially went to another certified vendor for data migration and ACC/STS registry outcomes needs, and then came to Velos. Would you share your experience?

Ms. Skrysak: Advocate Healthcare wanted to go to the same vendor for our system-wide cardiac programs. We wanted to stay with Summit because we were completely sold on it, but Summit didn't exist and we needed to go elsewhere. By the time Summit was purchased by Velos, we had already become disenchanted with the other vendor we selected. Two of our sites switched to Velos and one site stayed with the other vendor. Velos was selected because of retained personnel and the product looked very user friendly and looked like it would meet our needs.

Velos: Can you describe your experience with each vendor?

Ms. Skrysak: Life with Summit was wonderful. Life with the other vendor, for Good Samaritan, was non-existent. The product wasn’t relational, the reporting didn’t present well, and you couldn’t edit the data and reporting structure. With Velos, as compared to both Summit and the interim product, we could relate the databases to each other and were able to create a patient database as opposed to just pure procedural one. We also got a true relational database system design, and the power and reliability that come with it, but also the flexibility we used to have with Summit. Velos also keeps adding capabilities, which is good.

Velos: What advice do you have for organizations, such as former or current Summit customers, who are thinking of switching to a new product?

Ms. Skrysak: I recently talked to an organization who, like us, purchased another program after Summit. Their experience was similar to ours: all the vendors presented wonderfully when they came into the hospital, but you have no guarantee until you start using it. The Program Coordinator was telling me that the vendor said their application did things that it actually didn’t do or certainly doesn’t do well. So, customers are getting burned out there by these other vendors.

For me, the biggest selling point for you was that Summit was purchased by Velos. I know you do all those things that we were both looking for. Velos’ canned reports are great, but I do a ton of ad-hoc and research and that was what I wanted, and with Velos that is easily done. So, how the vendors present their products during demonstration time is great but how they really work is the bad part. The big selling point for Velos is that customers like us are really happy with the program.

Velos: You have an ADT interface and there were initial challenges getting it implemented. What happened and how do you feel about your ADT interface now?

Ms. Skrysak: Things were rocky in the beginning because of the interface problems. Since the glitches were corrected, things have been great. I find it an incredible advantage to have this interface. It sure has increased speed and accuracy of data.

Velos: What do you like or dislike about Velos customer support?

Ms. Skrysak: Velos support has never given me a reason to dislike them. They have been wonderful from the very beginning.


About Velos: Velos is a leading designer and developer of next-generation healthcare information systems. Velos develops, markets, and supports an integrated suite of clinical, administrative, and financial products. Velos’ turnkey solutions and Internet products address the information needs of specialty medicine and clinical research. The Company is privately held with headquarters in Silicon Valley.

For information regarding Velos, please contact Madalynne Chapman (510-580-2661) / mchapman@velos.com) or visit http://www.velos.com/.