Streamlining Healthcare Project Activations with FitUp: A Success Story with Northern Arizona Healthcare
ABOUT NORTHERN ARIZONA HEALTHCARE
Northern Arizona Healthcare serves over 700,000 people across Northern Arizona, including Coconino County, the second-largest county in the U.S. by area. With critical services such as cardiovascular, cancer, orthopedic care, and the only Level 1 trauma center in the region, the stakes are high. Chronically overtaxed operational support services like Biomed Field Services, and Engineering must stretch even further during large projects.
THE CHALLENGE
Behind every healthcare construction project lies an intricate web of independent resource groups—each operating within its own scope. Without proper coordination, activation phases are often plagued by delays, unexpected costs, and frustration. This was the reality for Jill Worley-Shook, a Medical Equipment Construction Project Planner at Northern Arizona Healthcare (NAH).
“Healthcare construction project activation and transition to operations is often an overlooked and under-resourced effort,” says Jill. “It involves countless teams, including medical equipment planners, project coordinators, project managers, contractors, and IT and application support, all of which require careful coordination—something that often becomes an afterthought.”
FITUP’S SOLUTION
Faced with these challenges, NAH decided to pilot FitUp, a platform designed to provide comprehensive
visibility and control over healthcare construction activations. Jill describes their decision to try FitUp as
a low-risk opportunity with the potential for a significant payoff.
“As a smaller rural health system, we don’t maintain a large enough portfolio to justify a robust development team or dedicated operational support teams. FitUp gave us a scalable solution that would help with our challenges,” she explains.
FitUp’s key features, such as the Visual Fragnet and centralized issue tracking, provided real-time visibility to activation status and challenges. The platform’s dashboard offered access to information to a broad spectrum of project stakeholders, without requiring them to make site visits to get updates.
“FitUp made tracking and resolving issues quick and easy, even when we weren’t on-site. From equipment placement validation to logging failures of exam lights or faulty EKG machines, everything was centralized in one place,” Jill says.
THE RESULTS
Though NAH is still collecting firm metrics, Jill noted a marked improvement in the efficiency of
their Primary Clinic and Sleep Lab activations compared to earlier tenant improvement projects in the same building. Deliveries were streamlined, reporting became more concise, and FitUp significantly reduced the demands on NAH’s internal stakeholders.
“We saw the outcomes far exceed those of our earlier Specialty Services Clinic space and Outpatient Cath Lab activations,” she says. “FitUp made the whole process easier and more
efficient.” In addition to the platform’s benefits, Jill highlights the professionalism and support of the FitUp team. “They were always available, whether we were troubleshooting activation issues or configuring custom settings. Their support was invaluable.”
Looking ahead, NAH faces an even more significant challenge: a full-scale replacement of
Flagstaff Medical Center. With FitUp, NAH is confident that their teams are better equipped to handle the complexities of this massive project.
“
