Case Study: Enhancing Healthcare ITSM with Custom ServiceNow

Introduction

A provincial health authority responsible for hospital IT operations, patient support services, and clinical system management sought to modernize and streamline their ITSM capabilities. While ServiceNow’s Out-of-the-Box (OOB) functionality provided a strong foundation, the unique demands of the healthcare sector required customized solutions to improve operational efficiency, patient care, and compliance.

With strict regulatory requirements, critical uptime needs, and complex workflows across hospitals, clinics, and labs, the health authority needed a tailored ServiceNow implementation to support its specific ITSM, asset tracking, and security needs. Customization was necessary to accommodate healthcare-specific workflows, integration with clinical systems, and to ensure adherence to industry regulations.

Background

The client operates a large-scale healthcare network with thousands of employees and multiple locations, requiring a robust, highly available, and secure ITSM platform. The existing system—a heavily customized legacy ITSM tool—was difficult to maintain, causing slow resolution times and compliance risks.

Key challenges included:

• Complex IT asset tracking: Medical devices, lab equipment, and clinical systems required advanced tracking and lifecycle management beyond standard IT assets
• Integration with healthcare applications: The client needed seamless connectivity with Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems, lab systems, and hospital scheduling tools
• Strict compliance requirements: Regulations such as HIPAA, PHIPA, and other provincial health standards mandated enhanced security, access controls, and auditability
• Critical uptime requirements: IT service disruptions could impact patient care, requiring near-zero downtime and proactive monitoring

To address these challenges, the health authority selected ServiceNow with a customized implementation tailored to the healthcare environment.

Initial Assessment

Before implementation, an assessment identified critical gaps in the existing ITSM system:

• Manual tracking of medical IT assets led to inefficiencies, increased costs, and compliance risks
• Inefficient IT service request processes resulted in delayed responses to critical hospital IT issues
• Lack of integration with clinical systems made incident resolution fragmented and time-consuming
• Inability to enforce security policies and access controls created compliance vulnerabilities

Strategy and Implementation

Given the complexity of healthcare operations, the project required a balance of customization and OOB functionality to maintain upgradeability while addressing unique healthcare needs.

Phase 1- Custom IT Asset Management & Integration with EHR

• Customized CMDB for Healthcare Assets: Developed an enhanced asset tracking model for medical devices, diagnostic equipment, and IT infrastructure, enabling real-time visibility into asset status and compliance tracking
• Integration with EHR & Clinical Systems: Implemented secure API-based integration with Epic and Cerner EHR systems to enable automated incident reporting and resolution workflows

Phase 2 – Advanced IT Service Requests & Compliance Enhancements

• Custom Service Request Workflows: Designed tailored request workflows for hospital IT teams, biomedical engineering, and clinical staff, ensuring faster response times for IT-related issues
• Automated Security & Compliance Enforcement: Introduced automated auditing and access controls to track IT service interactions in alignment with HIPAA and PHIPA regulations 

Monitoring and Analysis

The success of the project is being measured across several key performance areas:

IT Service Efficiency

• Reduction in IT service request resolution time: Custom workflows improved response times by 40%, ensuring faster restoration of hospital IT services
• Decrease in manual intervention: Automated ticket assignment and routing reduced manual workload for IT staff by 35%, enabling them to focus on higher-value tasks 

Medical Asset Management & Compliance

• Improved visibility into medical IT assets: With a custom CMDB, the client is able to track medical devices, update maintenance records, and monitor asset utilization in real time
• Stronger compliance enforcement: Automated tracking of who accessed which systems and when supports audits and regulatory compliance, reducing the risk of fines or legal issues

System Uptime & Incident Prevention

• Reduction in downtime for critical systems: Predictive maintenance and AI-driven monitoring helped reduce IT-related disruptions in hospitals by at least 30%
• Improved incident response for clinical systems: Integration with EHR systems ensures that critical patient-impacting issues are automatically prioritized, leading to faster resolution times

These improvements are tracked through ServiceNow dashboards, real-time analytics, and compliance audits, ensuring that the customizations continue to deliver long-term value.

Results and Achievements

• More efficient IT service delivery with faster incident resolution
• Enhanced asset tracking, reducing medical equipment downtime
• Seamless clinical system integration, leading to better patient care outcomes
• Improved compliance and security, minimizing risks associated with unauthorized system access

“LeverageSN completely transformed how we handle IT. They didn’t push a generic ServiceNow setup – they customized it around our needs, from asset management to clinical integrations. Now we’re resolving issues faster, tracking medical devices effortlessly, and finally ditching clunky workflows.”

Conclusion

Through tailored ServiceNow customization, the health authority is building a modern, scalable, and highly secure ITSM platform that supports critical hospital operations. By balancing custom functionality with OOB best practices, the solution ensures regulatory compliance, optimized IT workflows, and improved service efficiency across the healthcare network.

For organizations looking to modernize ITSM while maintaining compliance and uptime, LeverageSN provides customized ServiceNow solutions tailored to industry-specific needs. Contact us today to explore how we can transform your IT operations.