Commonwealth Care Alliance

Commonwealth Care Alliance: Launching an award-winning healthcare intranet

A commitment to innovation and an unparalleled standard of care fueled Commonwealth Care Alliance’s rapid expansion. In less than five years, the Boston-based not-for-profit organization more than doubled in size.

With 40k+ members relying on Commonwealth Care Alliance, the organization recognized the need for a highly searchable platform that would connect their people and centralize knowledge. When launching CommonGround, leaders envisioned a product for employees, by employees that would facilitate workforce communication, engagement, and collaboration.

In addition to winning over Commonwealth Care Alliance’s workforce, CommonGround has won several awards. The intranet earned top honors in the Experience category at The Inspiring Workplace Awards, serving as a testament to Commonwealth Care Alliance’s commitment to taking member care to the next level by leveraging digital technology.

Keeping pace: Expansion plants the seed for change

An ongoing commitment to clinical and technological innovation spurred Commonwealth Care Alliance’s unprecedented growth. In less than five years, the Boston-based nonprofit healthcare organization had more than doubled in size.

With over 40k members now looking to the organization for quality, compassionate care, Commonwealth Care Alliance needed workplace technology that could keep pace with their expansion. Over a period of six months, a cross-functional employee taskforce assessed the company’s collaboration tools. Their findings echoed the same sentiment employees had expressed in recent engagement surveys: Commonwealth Care Alliance had outgrown their intranet.

CCA's project objective:

Launch a highly searchable intranet that is accessible on-demand from anywhere to underpin Commonwealth Care Alliance’s transformative approach to member care.

Key project goals:

• Debut a mobile accessible, cloud-based solution
• Create a gateway to the tools and information employees need to enhance member care
• Drive adoption and autonomy from the start by prioritizing user research

With a commitment to 'doing business at an emotional level', the organization was keen to foster a strong sense of community and connection to the bigger picture - important for colleagues in remote locations - while at the same time providing highly personalized experiences to all.

Looking to the cloud for limitless accessibility

For more than nine years, Commonwealth Care Alliance relied on a SharePoint On-Premises solution. While the intranet was the primary mode of communication for some functional areas of the business, network dependency limited its efficacy. Since close to two-thirds of Commonwealth Care Alliance’s workforce is comprised of clinicians treating members in the field, a cloud-based, mobile responsive solution was deemed essential to ensure everyone could access the intranet, anytime and anywhere.

Employee surveys revealed that Commonwealth Care Alliance’s workforce felt there was greater opportunity for technological support and transparent, two-way communications through their existing platform. Consequently, leaders sought to debut a reimagined platform that would serve as the gateway to the tools and information employees needed to provide the best standard of care.

Their vision was to build a product for employees, by employees to facilitate workforce communication, engagement, collaboration, and innovation. “Our objective in launching a best-in-class intranet for our workforce was to be steadfast in advancing our technology for stronger communication, community building, and efficient access to job-specific resources,” notes Courtney Sullivan Murphy, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Sponsor.

Laying the groundwork for a new era

Converting Commonwealth Care Alliance’s vision into a reality was truly a team effort. The organization had recently begun hiring for both a Chief People Officer and a Vice President of Internal Communications, two roles that would prove vital in launching their new intranet.

Additionally, Commonwealth Care Alliance sought an Intranet-as-a-Service provider to translate their digital workplace priorities into a singular, user-centric platform. In evaluating potential vendors, the organization prioritized those with seamless Microsoft integrations, allowing them to leverage their existing SharePoint Online investment. Mobile optimization, modularity, and localization capabilities were also given top priority throughout their vendor search.

Ultimately, it was Unily’s configurability and demonstrated track-record with healthcare enterprises that solidified the vendor as Commonwealth Care Alliance’s partner of choice. Due to the scalable, evergreen nature of the Unily product, leaders also felt confident that their forthcoming solution would be able to grow with them as they continue to expand and evolve.

Fulfilling every use case with 4 core pillars

With their service provider identified, Commonwealth Care Alliance’s next challenge was ensuring that their forthcoming solution fully supports employees in every business function. From primary care providers to their colleagues in legal and finance, the redesigned intranet needed to fulfill a diverse array of use cases and employee preferences.

To ensure no voice went unheard, Commonwealth Care Alliance conducted focus groups with a strategic mix of employees from every department. These sessions aimed to pinpoint what users were looking for in their new intranet. Four consistent themes emerged from Commonwealth Care Alliance’s research, which were used to guide the design of “CommonGround”, their forthcoming solution.

#1 The end of network dependency

Commonwealth Care Alliance needed a cloud-based solution to ensure employees could always access crucial care resources, from their device of choice.

#2 A strategic homepage

Information overload was a pain point, and it started from the moment employees accessed the homepage. To cut through the noise, internal comms would govern homepage content on CommonGround to ensure news proved relevant for all. The intranet would also include personalization features and following capabilities, giving everyone control over what content they see first,

#3 Superior search

Commonwealth Care Alliance’s previous search function suffered from a buildup of outdated information. With a new taxonomy for clinical document libraries, CommonGround would enhance both search relevancy and efficiency.

#4 A gateway for collaboration

As the organization grew, employees became unclear about who to turn to for what. Commonwealth Care Alliance’s new intranet would introduce an interactive org chart that updates daily to help users find the best points of contact for specialized projects and niche expertise.

Inside CommonGround: The human-centred intranet

Before:

After:

Just as Commonwealth Care Alliance adopts a unique, person-centered approach to member care, CommonGround is a user-centric solution designed with their workforce’s specific challenges and priorities in mind. Several intranet components play a crucial role in supporting employees in their daily mission to provide transformative care to those with significant health needs.

A new standard for member care

How can clinicians enhance the experience of every member they serve? In healthcare, streamlined access to the right resources is non-negotiable. By centralizing internal clinical decision support tools, standards of practice, reference guides, and other resources, CommonGround’s Knowledge Hub is every clinician’s single source of truth.

All clinical document libraries are included and easily searchable so that clinicians can access what they need in a timely manner while treating members. Since CommonGround is cloud-based and mobile responsive, the Knowledge Hub is a resource that all clinicians can take advantage of, anytime and anywhere.

Putting a face to every name

Collaboration is a core component of Commonwealth Care Alliance’s DNA. When it comes to treating members, the organization utilizes interpersonal care teams to provide holistic support. To encourage a similar sense of collaboration across the enterprise, CommonGround includes both a people directory and an interactive org chart, which come together to streamline group working.

If an employee isn’t sure who to reach out to, they can turn to the people directory and search by name, location, and department to pinpoint the right contact. Once they’ve identified the colleague they want to collaborate with, the interactive org chart displays other team members and leaders they may wish to include in the task, as well as profile information in case users are looking for more details.

Prior to CommonGround, every department was expected to keep their own org chart. Not only did this lead to silos, it also caused a compliance challenge. With CommonGround, Commonwealth Care Alliance no longer needs to centralize and verify multiple org charts to submit to regulatory agencies. Instead, the new interactive feature ensures that employee information is updated and ready for all to tap into.

Uniting under the CCA mission

As a growing organization, Commonwealth Care Alliance’s internal comms strategy needed to evolve to keep employees united and aligned amidst expansion. CommonGround has underpinned a new era of internal communications hallmarked by two-way messaging and greater transparency.

An Executive Thought Leadership Series gives leaders a platform to spotlight what their teams are working on and share insights that will shape the future of the organization. These fireside chats are published on CommonGround, so that employees can stay updated and discuss their thoughts via commenting and social channels.

By connecting and learning about the work their colleagues are doing, every Commonwealth Care Alliance employee is empowered to contribute to the organization’s overarching mission. “Employees actively contribute content and ideas, and best of all, they share their stories, which reminds us of the great care and great heart that we all share,” summarizes Abigail Santmyer, VP, Internal Communications.

A lifeline for safety and connectivity

CommonGround has proven especially valuable throughout COVID-19. As a healthcare organization, the pandemic directly impacts much of the work Commonwealth Care Alliance employees perform on a daily basis. To ensure clinicians have the tools needed to continue to serve their members, the Knowledge Hub has evolved to become a one-stop shop for all clinical focused COVID-19 resources. Videos on coping with changes during the pandemic and appropriate PPE protocol were also added. Additionally, an Emerging Concerns page was created to communicate business processes and updates throughout COVID-19. Over time, more resources were added including a page about returning to the workplace and stress management guidance. Giventhat compassion is at the core of what Commonwealth Care Alliance does, volunteer opportunities are also posted on CommonGround.

Throughout the changes brought on by COVID-19, the intranet has been both a vital resource for member care and a lifeline for employees to connect and communicate. “CommonGround has become a critical connection point as we swiftly moved a majority of our workforce to work from home through the uncertainty of COVID-19,” concludes Dr. Alfred Enagbare, Chief People Officer.

The results: a win on all formats

From the moment CommonGround was unveiled, the intranet has garnered widespread employee approval and engagement. By enlisting a team of content champions and ambassadors from various departments, Commonwealth Care Alliance began to build buzz around their forthcoming platform well before its debut.

As a result, when the platform launched, employees were eager to try the solution out for themselves—and they weren’t disappointed. The design team’s ongoing emphasis on user research and commitment to building a solution specifically for their workforce paid off, as CommonGround’s adoption rate surpasses 98%.

Post launch stats:

The gold standard for employee experience

CommonGround has had an undeniable impact on employee experience at large. In the words of Dr. Enagbare, “We strive to be the employer of choice for an engaged workforce and CommonGround provides a way for employees to engage with leadership, with company news, with our mission, and with one another.”

Across the organization, employees have been quick to voice their praise. Testimonials from an anonymous feedback survey include “CommonGround is the best. Seriously one of the best innovations to date! This will benefit all of us many times a day!” and “What I love about CommonGround is the ease of accessibility. I find it user-friendly and extremely helpful.”

Commonwealth Care Alliance’s employees aren’t the only CommonGround fans. The intranet has recently received several internationally recognized accolades, from both User Experience experts Nielsen Norman and The Inspiring Workplaces Awards. CommonGround was named one of the world’s best intranets by Nielsen Norman, in addition to taking home the gold in the Experience category at The Inspiring Workplaces’ annual competition.

The intranet also signals a new, more connected chapter for Commonwealth Care Alliance, which will prove particularly crucial throughout their continued expansion. “Commonwealth Care Alliance’s workforce is dynamic, with distinctly different roles, demographics, disciplines, and geographies, yet we centralize with one mission and heart,” concludes Santmyer. “CommonGround has helped to further unify us.”

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