Challenge

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center had a generous tuition assistance program, yet it wasn’t structured in a way to support their hiring needs, and they had no insight into employees’ learning outcomes. The HR department also found itself mired in the time-consuming manual process of reviewing reimbursement requests, as well as fielding questions from employees considering myriad continuing education programs. This detracted from HR’s recruiting goals.

The hospital was also looking to address long-term goals. To maintain its prestigious Magnet® designation, the hospital needed to continually elevate the education preparedness of its nurses. The goal was to ensure that at least 80% of the nursing population transitioned from a R.N. to a B.S.N. degree by 2020.

Solution

Cincinnati Children’s partnered with EdAssist to turn tuition assistance from an entitlement program into a strategic tool. This began with aligning the tuition assistance benefit spending with talent management goals. From there, EdAssist updated tuition policies to meet the changing education landscape and automated the tuition reimbursement approval process in a way that would ensure rules compliance.

EdAssist academic and financial aid advisors have a strong background in healthcare education, enabling them to support the hospital’s 3,000 nurses in finding just the right learning programs to meet their busy schedules' needs. With 60% of Cincinnati Children’s staff pursuing advanced degrees, the hospital also reaped substantial savings through the tuition discounts EdAssist negotiated with local schools and universities.

Results

• Saved $450,000 in the first six months through EdAssist policy compliance and tuition
• Relieved the time of a full-time employee who was solely focused on reimbursement transactions and requests
• Redeployed HR recruiters’ time on core competencies of hiring the right candidates instead of career counseling; this also empowered recruiters to first tap internal candidates for new positions
• Gained visibility into key metrics such as learning outcomes and progress toward maintaining Magnet® status
• Fostered collaboration and teamwork among the talent management, clinical team, learning and development, and internal training departments

Facts & Figures

Total employees: 14,000 employees; 3,000 nurses